In the final section of our three part series looking at why there is no safe Eastbourne seafront cycling route along the entire beachfront, we talk to the local authorities involved. We ask Eastbourne Borough Council and East Sussex County Council about the way ahead as we face a climate emergency
THERE are two parts to Eastbourne seafront as far as local authorities are concerned: the road and the promenade.
Eastbourne Borough Council told us that it is responsible for the entire promenade from the sewage works on Prince William Parade in the east through to Holywell at the far western end.
East Sussex County Council (ESCC) is the highways authority responsible for the road.
What the county council says
We asked ESCC about the funding it received via the Government’s Emergency Active Travel Fund during the Covid pandemic in 2020:
:: What was the £535,000 from the fund used for in 2020?
:: Was all of it used?
ESCC told us:
“In 2020 the Government announced an Emergency Active Travel Fund to help local authorities support safe social distancing in areas such as town centres and transport hubs and to enable more people to walk and cycle where possible.
“In July 2020, we were allocated £535,171 in tranche one of funding. This money was to be used for temporary schemes. Following further consultation with local businesses and residents, it was decided not to progress a number of schemes and the total spent from the tranche 1 allocation was £267,349.25.
“In November 2020, we were allocated a further £1,820,200 from tranche two of the Emergency Active Travel Fund. Tranche two funding was for longer-term measures.
“To date, East Sussex County Council has spent £657,835.77 on predominantly permanent measures.
“The underspend from both tranches of funding is being used to develop further permanent measures. Details of further proposed measures will be shared once confirmed.
“We recognise the huge benefits cycling and walking have on people’s health and wellbeing, as well as improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions, and we have recently set out an ambitious network of preferred cycling and walking routes in our Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan to support active travel around the county.
“Delivery of the plan relies on our ability to secure external funding and we continue to work closely with partners to achieve this.”
We were directed by ESCC to what Coun Claire Dowling, the county’s lead member for transport and environment, said in October 2020, in relation to a consultation on the walking and cycling infrastructure plan.
“Walking and cycling not only improves people’s health and wellbeing, it can help protect the environment and improve air quality,” she stated at the time.
“It’s vital that people take this opportunity to comment and help us create a plan that supports active travel and understands the needs of local communities.”
What the borough council says
We asked the borough council to clarify who monitors cycling on the seafront in prohibited areas.
It said: “The council’s Neighbourhood First officers, together with the Neighbourhood Policing Team, carry out ad hoc patrols to engage with anyone not abiding by the no-cycling signs and explain why it is a pedestrianised area.
“They are also co-located from time to time in a seafront office adjacent to the pier to cover this and other issues which may arise in the area but this is not a permanent arrangement.”
We also asked how many fines against cyclists have been issued in the last two years, between May 2020 and May 2022? (A Freedom of Information request in 2020 showed that no fines had been issued between 2018 and 2020).
The borough council said no fines have been issued in the last two years either.
In 2015, the Liberal Democrat-controlled borough council voted to amend an old bylaw which had banned cycling between Wish Tower and Fisherman’s Green.
In 2016, the Government rejected this application in the face of local opposition and said a pedestrian and cycling strategy should be in place before any resubmission to amend the law.
There is now a draft Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan being developed by East Sussex County Council (ESCC), which builds on the 2012 Eastbourne Cycling Strategy.
This is looking at five funded routes, but none of these is along the seafront.
Borough council leader David Tutt told the Eastbourne Reporter they were waiting for the county council to act but it is taking a long time. He also clarified that only the police have the power to issue fines, not Neighbourhood First officers.
He said: “They [East Sussex County Council] should be creating a safe cycling route on the road by taking out the cars between the Redoubt and the Pier. The problem area has always been here due to the width of the promenade.
“Cyclists deserve a safe route but I also have sympathy for pedestrians in that area.”
He said ESCC had suggested taking out the parking on the hotels side but that he believed that was unsafe due to the number of side roads – the obvious place to him for a cycle route is by the sea wall with the removal of parking spaces.
“Cycling along the seafront is extremely dangerous – I was actually knocked off my bike a few years ago”
Coun David tutt
Coun Tutt said the borough council had offered replacement parking with vouchers for hotel guests at Fisherman’s Green, which is rarely full.
He pointed out that the issue of cycling on the promenade west of the pier was also tied up with ESCC because that was dependent on a pedestrian and cycling strategy, which was now in existence.
He added: “I would urge them to move forward with it as swiftly as possible. We would have done something about it ten years ago.
“I think cycling along the seafront is extremely dangerous. I was actually knocked off my bike years ago so I have a lot of sympathy with the cyclists.”
We have asked the Environment Agency if their £100 million sea defence scheme from Pevensey Bay to Eastbourne will include a cycle route.
The route ahead
In summary, it appears there are funded plans for cycle routes in the town – but there is still not one in sight for the seafront.
Both an off-road cycle route west of the pier and a route east of the pier are in the hands of East Sussex County Council.
For the Government to reconsider repealing the bylaw banning promenade cycling, the ESCC cycling strategy needs to be in place.
And to create a cycle route shielded from traffic along Marine Parade to the east, ESCC would have to remove the parking spaces along the sea wall to allow space.
Several years have already elapsed since the bylaw bid was rejected and there still seems little sign of either of these issues being cleared easily.
Despite increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions and traffic, the long-held dream of simply cycling by the sea in Eastbourne looks unlikely to become a reality any time soon.
Comments are welcome but they are pre-moderated
:: If you like what you have read, please support our aim of bringing high-quality impartial journalism to Eastbourne
The problem really is the area between the pier and fisherman’s green in that both the prom and the road narrows. Bespoke’s report did not into consideration the needs of all genre of pedestrians merely the cyclists view and was biased in their favour.
Using the fisherman’s green car park was an option but:-
1. The car park is insecure
2. There is no ANPR
3. Disabled people would have to get from there to their accommodations with their luggage. How?
4. If cars were damaged, stolen or broken into whilst parked and securely locked it would hardly demonstrate Eastbourne as a safe resort to holiday in. People would not return or recommend.
5. If cars were banned along Marine Parade the adjoining residential roads would end up end up as rat runs or, on the whim of East Sussex Highways have roads blocked off forcing traffic on to an already congested and polluted seaside creating even more traffic delays into a town which has 2 multistorey car parks neither of whom by their height restrictions and narrow passageways can accommodate disabled people who are either car owners and/or passengers.
6. Blue badge spaces in Eastbourne are at a premium and if the current plans for phases 2a and 2b are put in place as they stand there will be even less of them.
7. Eastbourne Borough Council wants to be inclusive to all but, at this moment in time it isn’t and it won’t be especially if East Sussex County Council and its Highways department carry on how they are at present .
As is similar with the rest of the country Disability is not the problem Accessibility is!