A summer stroll down one of the proposed Greenway routes in Hastings (photo: Tony Polain).

Do you support Active Travel in Hastings? Come to the public meeting on Tuesday 18th

Local campaign groups have called a public meeting to explore how we can make Hastings a safer, easier town for walking, wheeling and cycling with a greener transport network. Nick Terdre reports.

The Active Travel public meeting will take place at the White Rock Hotel on Tuesday 18 March at 7pm. The guest speaker will be Roddy Crocket, senior public affairs manager at the cycling charity Sustrans. The meeting is sponsored by Hastings Greenway Group and Sussex Greenways.

“Hastings unfortunately lags far behind many other towns of similar size in terms of giving people a satisfactory choice of walking, wheeling or cycling for their everyday journeys,” said Ian Sier of the Hastings Greenway Group.

“We need to address this imbalance and figure out how we can design a sustainable transport network fit for the future, to tackle climate change and improve the health and wellbeing of our local communities.”

Hastings Urban Bikes and the Hastings Sustainable Transport Forum, who are equally concerned to see improvements in active travel infrastructure and safe cycle routes, have been invited to contribute to the meeting.

No progress

No progress has been made on the Hastings Walking & Cycling network agreed by East Sussex County Council and Hastings Borough Council in 2014, and previously allocated funding has been lost.

The proposed network consists of  five routes: a 5km section of the national cycle network along the coast; Combe Valley to Alexandra Park, 5.5km; Alexandra Park to Conquest Hospital, 3.5km; Alexandra Park to Ivyhouse Industrial Estate and Hastings Academy, 2.4km; and town centre to Alexandra Park, 1km.

Partial map of the proposed Hastings walking & cycling network: routes 1 (red), 2 (pink), 3 (yellow), 4 (green), and 5 (blue). Image: Hastings Greenway Group.

However, making the network a reality, and achieving a significant advance in active travel arrangements, suffered a serious setback in 2022 when Hastings Borough Council overturned its previous decision to allow cycling in Alexandra Park. Amid the confusion caused by this policy reversal, East Sussex County Council cancelled the funding programme for the network.

So Hastings remains one of the country’s least friendly cycling towns, a state of affairs active travel proponents want to turn around. Everyone is invited to attend the public meeting and share ideas.

Active Travel Public Meeting White Rock Hotel, 1-10 White Rock, Hastings TN34 1JU, Tuesday 18 March, 7pm. Further information from info@hastingsgreenway.org.

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