There is no immediate end in sight to the decades-long battle to overturn a ban on cycling along most of Eastbourne seafront. In part one of this three-part series, we review what has happened (and not happened) so far
You can drive to Eastbourne seafront and park by the Wish Tower, within just 20 metres of the beach, and pay £2.40 to stay for two hours.
You could, more sustainably, try to cycle on the promenade – but you would risk a fine of £500.
Except that not a single fine has been issued in the last four years, according to Eastbourne Borough Council.
This is the situation on the East Sussex coast, in a climate emergency, with undisputed rising ocean levels and a £100 million plan being drawn up for sea defences in Eastbourne.
The saga of the Eastbourne seafront cycling ban on much of the promenade and the lack of bike lanes segregated from traffic goes back decades.
The path is littered with well-meant plans, strategies, consultations and draft documents from two local authorities – plus ever-mounting frustration from cycling groups and others.
Yet riding a bike is still banned from most of the four-mile-long flat promenade, aside from a short section at the eastern end.
There is no cohesive, continuous cycle route, safe from traffic and away from crowds of pedestrians. There is instead a combination of shared use on parts of a narrow pavement and cycling directly on the busy main seafront road.
This is despite the fact that a long section west from the Wish Tower to Holywell comprises three levels of promenade, one of which experts have argued could be safely used by both pedestrians and cyclists.
It also marks Eastbourne out as the only town in the area with no seafront cycling. Seaford, Bexhill and Hastings all have a ‘share with care’ policy for pedestrians and cyclists.
The only section cyclists can use next to the sea is from the Sovereign Centre to Sovereign Harbour, part of Route 21 on the National Cycle Network.
The long road to inaction on the seafront cycling ban
The long-running controversy dates back to at least 1994. This was when East Sussex County Council asked walking and cycling charity Sustrans to produce a report called ‘A Healthy Cycling Plan for Eastbourne’.
The report stated, hopefully, that in 1994 there was “real change afoot and signs that the generation-long infatuation with the motor car may be on the wane”.
It also said: “From Holywell to the Western Lawns there seems to be little contention over the use of Middle Parade … Pedestrians tend to prefer the lower Western Parade.” It suggested that “major works or changes to traffic flows would be necessary” east of the pier to create a safe route for cyclists.
But, despite this report, the plan was never implemented.
These two basic ideas about what to do either side of the pier have been broadly replicated in every proposal since then.
This Sustrans report was replaced 18 years later in 2012 by the Eastbourne Cycling Strategy, after the borough council decided at a meeting on February 8 to work with the county council to put in place a town cycle network.
Comments on this strategy (report 7, item 13, page 3) illustrate the deeply polarising nature of the debate.
They ranged from banning all cycling between Holywell and Fisherman’s Green, to someone who wanted a future with no motor vehicles at all. A petition of 3,200 signatures supporting a seafront cycle route was also received.
No cycle route along the promenade was introduced as a result.
In 2015, the borough council voted in favour of a seafront cycleway and applied to central government to amend an old bylaw which banned bikes on the promenade. In September 2016, the Government refused to overturn the law because of a flurry of objection letters.
Sustrans was again appointed in 2017 by the county council to produce evidence for the development of a countywide cycling and walking plan across coastal towns, including Eastbourne.
Among the documents produced was a 95-page report on Eastbourne. This recommends (on page 15, if you want a deep dive) that the middle tier of the promenade becomes shared use and that all car parking on Marine Parade is removed to create a two-way traffic-free cycle route.
This document, among many others, has fed into the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan being developed by the county council.
This proposes five cycling routes in the town, which have funding. None is on the seafront.
Then, during the Covid pandemic, the Government gave money to local authorities via the Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF) to encourage walking and cycling on safer routes during lockdown periods.
East Sussex County Council, as the highways authority, received £535,000 for targeted temporary measures which had to implemented within a short space of time.
At a meeting on 17 August 2020, the council suggested painting an advisory cycle route painted on the road between Wish Tower and Fisherman’s Green and between Royal Parade and Langney roundabout. Yet this was against Government guidelines on safe cycle routes.
The Department for Transport’s own 188-page guide to cycle infrastructure design states on page 49: “Simply using a white line road marking … is ineffective”. Cycling groups objected, saying it just involved stencils of bikes and was dangerous because it was across multiple side roads and next to parked cars. The council shelved the plan.
Timeline summary
- 1994 – Sustrans report for East Sussex County Council outlining a seafront route
- 2012 – Eastbourne Cycling Strategy produced by the borough council
- 2016 – Borough council votes in favour of seafront cycleway, but a Victorian bylaw stops it
- 2017 – Sustrans is asked again by county council for a report
- 2020 – County council is given £535,000 of emergency Covid travel fund
- 2021 – County council “to take forward” five routes, none along the seafront
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:: This is the first of a three-part in-depth series. It took a lot of time to write but I am unpaid. If you like what you have read, please support my aim of bringing high-quality impartial journalism to Eastbourne
