In the second of our three part series on the long-running battle for a safe, continuous cycle route along the length of Eastbourne seafront, we talk to some of those involved. We hear the views of a cycling group, a bike business and an organisation representing people with disabilities
By Rebecca Maer
ROBERT McGowan, of Bespoke Cycle Group, reckons he has cycled every week since he was five years old.
The 52-year-old writer and editor, who lives in the Old Town, is one of many cyclists who have been campaigning for many years for a joined-up seafront cycle route.
He is fully aware of the budget constraints faced by all local authorities but is deeply frustrated.
“We have tried to be constructive and write so many proposals and engage in consultation. All the officers are reasonable and helpful, but they are unable to do anything,” he said.
He feels they are being kept at arm’s length: a straightforward meeting in mid-May 2022 between Bespoke and East Sussex County Council about cycle routes took six months to arrange and then only took place online.
In conjunction with Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce, in 2021 Bespoke commissioned a report from a cycle infrastructure specialist who came up with similar conclusions to Sustrans in 2017: remove Marine Parade car parking by the sea wall to create a traffic-free safe cycle route.
The usual cost of an all-day ten-hour parking space in this area is £7.80 on the RingGo parking app. However, hotels can buy vouchers, which cost £2 each, for overnight parking for their guests from East Sussex County Council.
Mr McGowan argues that, although there is council income from the parking and convenience for hotel guests, it makes for an unattractive outlook for those same guests sitting on the hotel terraces.
“On a sunny day from the terrace of those hotels, all you will see is one line of parked cars, another of traffic, a third of a traffic jam and a fourth of more parked cars – then the sea wall and, finally, the sea.
“It’s four rows of tin. It is unreal that they can’t see that is not optimal. It would be better even with just two lanes of traffic,” he said.
The Eastbourne Hospitality Association has been approached for a comment.
Mr McGowan concludes: “I am slightly less frustrated than I was. It is almost ridiculous. In reality, many people ride on the prom.
“I am not optimistic about anything changing very quickly but even the county council is openly saying ‘we have to go in the direction of travel for carbon reduction’. It does feel that something will happen eventually.”
Simon Wright is director of Active Cycling Projects Ltd which has operated cycle hire via bike-app at five sites along the seafront since 2018. They are: near the RNLI shop at Wish Tower, at the central library, Fisherman’s Green and two sites in Sovereign Harbour.
The cost is £3 per hour up to a maximum of £18 a day and the bikes are hired about 2,500 times across a year.
Understandably, he is keen to see safer Eastbourne seafront cycling but says it is hard to estimate what the impact would be on his business.
“I think it would join it up much more successfully and it makes sense. I don’t see what the issue is from the RNLI to the pier, where the promenade is wide and two-tier. I get it more from the pier going east where it is narrower,” he said.
Ray Blakebrough, deputy chair of Eastbourne Access Group, is closely involved with pedestrian safety and the requirements of people living with disabilities.
He argues that, rather than installing shared routes for both cycles and pedestrians, there should be dedicated cycle routes, a situation many cities in Europe are moving towards.
He said: “I see no problem using the middle promenade for cyclists. We would like to see a seafront route and use adapted bikes so people with disabilities can also enjoy cycling.
“But pedestrians should be segregated from cycles and routes in specific colours should be used to mark the routes clearly.”
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