More than 100 people of all ages joined a family-friendly bike ride around town to highlight the need for safer cycle routes in Eastbourne.
The ‘Kidical Mass’ ride started in Gildredge Park and followed a loop through the town, down the ‘bus-only’ section of Terminus Road next to The Beacon shopping centre, towards the seafront and back to the park.
The vision of the Kidical Mass movement is for children and young people to be able to cycle safely and independently wherever they live. Its motto is ‘Space for the next generation’.
The event was organised on Bank Holiday Monday of the Coronation weekend by Bespoke cycle group, which has been campaigning for safer cycling routes in the town for many years.
The ride highlighted the long-running saga of the lack of safe bike paths through the town centre and on the seafront.
Organiser Gem Aellah (above) hailed it as a success, with about 110 people taking part, ranging in age from toddlers to over-70s.
Professor Scarlett McNally, one of Bespoke’s founders, said: “It was lovely, so nice that there were lots of children. And motorists were very respectful as we went through the town and along the seafront.”
She later wrote on Twitter: “Eastbourne’s only four miles across. With some will + infrastructure, kids could cycle to school (reducing pollution, congestion, inactivity, car costs…) Thanks, drivers, for giving space & time!”
The Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan being developed by East Sussex County Council, the highways authority, proposes five cycling routes in the town. None is through the town centre or away from traffic along the seafront.
All new cycle routes must comply with guidelines from the Department for Transport (DfT) which includes planning safe space for cyclists on roads and allowing for junctions and crossings.
The DfT’s own 188-page guide to cycle infrastructure design states on page ten that “cyclists must be physically seprated and protected from high-volume motor traffic”. Advisory cycle routes painted in narrow lanes at the side of busy roads are not acceptable.
Paul Humphreys, chair of Cycle East Sussex and a member of Bespoke, also joined the cycle ride. He has campaigned for many years for safer bike routes across the whole county.
He points out there are several pots of funding which may be available for cycle routes, such as developer contributions from Sovereign Harbour, Government funding for active travel such as cycling and walking, and some Levelling Up money.
However, to secure funding any cycle route must comply with safety guidelines – and many in Eastbourne do not entirely meet those standards.
Mr Humphreys said there were good sections of cycle routes in Eastbourne, including part of the Horsey Way route east of the town centre and sections near the edge of town.
But he said he believed there was a pattern to explain why some were good routes and why there was little or no provision in the town centre.
“Where there is a route which does not inconvenience car drivers, East Sussex County Council is more than happy to implement a cycle route,” he said.
“They have issues where it might inconvenience car drivers. They will support schemes if it doesn’t inconvenience larger groups of people – if it doesn’t disturb current use of the roads, they are prepared to put something in.”
Mr Humphreys also said that the cycle route proposed by the county council from the station to the seafront takes riders on a far longer route than necessary: via Saffrons Road, Grange Road and Carlisle Road, to emerge by Wish Tower – instead of straight down Terminus Road.
The county council states on its own website regarding Eastbourne cycle routes: “We … recognise that the proposals may not fully achieve all of the core design principles set out [by the DfT]. However, the design process has been subject to rigorous assessments that seek to ensure that cyclists have the highest level of provision possible, whilst also considering other road users.”
We have approached East Sussex County Council for a comment.
– Main pic credit: Cole Cornford
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