Transport

Authorities and transport agencies must realise we are now planning for the needs of the second quarter of the 21st Century. Full consideration must be given to global warming, pollution, largely caused by vehicle emissions, and the likelihood of massive price rises in fuel. In addition, climate change, including rising sea levels and increased flooding, will radically change the way, and where, we live.

CPRE policy agrees with the Prime Minister's statement that the time for road building is past. Traffic must be reduced in the interests of cleaner air, safety and costs. There are many ways in which this can be achieved. Modal switch is an obvious opportunity in Sussex with the A27 paralleled by a railway across the County. There are many more ways where significant differences can be made at far less cost to the taxpayer.

30mph Speed Limits in Villages
The government has stated its intention of making 30pmh the norm through villages, with 20mph outside schools or other particularly vulnerable places. West Sussex is making some progress towards this desirable target and Oxfordshire County Council has nearly completed. However, Portsmouth Council has gone to the extreme of a 20mph limit throughout. The results of this pioneering action wil be extremely interesting.

Bexhill to Hastings Link Road
Although the Department for Transport has given provisional approval for this road, we continue, in conjunction with all the other members of the Hastings Alliance, to try and prevent it from actually happening.

We are battling on several fronts: Costs which are increasing rapidly, partially as a result of natural inflation; under estimating because ESCC made no allowance for major junctions at the ends of the by-pass (estimated at £20m already) and because of draining and piling work which will be necessary due to the nature of the soil. This again has not been properly estimated. We are waiting the result of a flood risk assessment by the Environment Agency. We repeat that this road is very unlikely to achieve its purpose of helping the regeneration of Hastings. >Find out more

Beddingham to Southerham Overbridge
The Public Inquiry into this highly environmentally damaging road will be completed sometime during November with a presentation by Professor Goodwin, the transport expert on behalf of the A27 Action Group. His very detailed and analytical report destroys large sections of the Highways Agency's arguments. Their case is also flawed in many other aspects. For instance, they state air quality will be improved as a result of building the bridge but then admit that they will be knocking down the two cottages on which pollution sensors are mounted so that air quality will not be monitored!

We continue to point out that the only possible long term solution to growth in traffic is traffic reduction. this is the only feasible approach for the middle of the 21st Century.

A27 Chichester By-Pass
We are considering the Highways Authority's roundabout proposals for Portfield, Oving, Stockbridge and Fishbourne on the heavily congested A27 Chichester By-Pass. We are looking at the affects of these developments on the infrastructure of the whole of the Chichester Harbour area. We welcome the policy for improved public transport with prioritised rights of way.

Rail Services

Brighton to Ashford - FAST!
The new, fast diesel train starts on 5th December 2005. It is hoped that this will make a faster, less polluting and more comfortable journey from Brighton to Ashford and Eurostar to Paris or Brussels rather than all the hanging around at Gatwick to travel by air.

Unfortunately, the other services to Hastings have been reduced in compensation. The winter time-table calls for one semi-fast train per hour off peak to London and one stopping train per hour to Brighton. This is as opposed to the rumoured dropping of the London train altogether.

Just when more passengers are using the railways than before we need better services to encourage them to stay and to entice more people to join them.

Winter time-tables start in December so please check in case there have been changes.

Fighting the Demise of Rural Services
We are also working to promote improvements to the Hastings to Ashford rail link and campaigning to prevent reductions in services to rural areas. We hope to prevent the planned reduction in services to Crowhurst. On top of the loss of a valuable service it would also be a boost for road builders pressing for the Hastings link road.

Our efforts campaigning for the reinstatement of the Wealden Link which joins Lewes to Uckfield seem to be gathering more support as ESCC are now actively campaigning for it.

The new trains are gradually coming into service on the Sussex to London lines months after they were originally due and still with a number of snags and problems. They are certainly smoother running but there is less room for luggage and cycles.

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