Worthing café owner says he has lost customers due to new cycle lane - 'It's almost like a no-go area'

West Sussex County Council’s £3m project was launched to transform two roads outside Worthing Railway Station. A proposal was put forward to introduce a contraflow cycle route along Cross Street and subsequently a section of Railway Approach, with the ‘aim of linking existing cycling routes and improving provision’.

Monty’s Café, in Railway Approach, Worthing, has been adversely affected by the works, intended to improve the area, with a new bus stop and cycle lane being built.

The cycle lane is kept separate by a barrier in front of the café to ensure cyclists are safe from oncoming traffic.

Café owner Ed Atkinson has run the business with his wife Vikki Turrell for more than ten years.

He said: “They've brought the pavements out a good 10 foot on either side. That's incredibly tricky even for a vehicle to get around there.

"Railway Approach is more of a an industrial area. There’s just a railway station, a café and a newsagent. It's not like a destination where you say come on kids, let's get your coats, we’re going to railway approach. It's not a day out.

"We are essentially an old-fashioned sort of builders destination. Everyone's welcome but we do rely on builders coming in. They have always been able to find somewhere to park and spend the best part of 20 quid each.

“Now we don't get any of that at all. It's all gone and these are customers that we’ve had a rapport with for ten years.

"In some cases they've actually said to us I'm really sorry, but we won't turn around anymore. It's a shame. That's quite a loss to us.”

West Sussex County Council said this scheme aims to transform Railway Approach into a ‘welcoming and vibrant gateway’ to Worthing – offering a ‘vastly improved arrival experience’ for visitors while improving the experience for commuters and regular users of the railway station.

The council said it has ‘tried to mitigate and/or reduce’ any loss of parking as part of the scheme by ‘re-providing some spaces a short distance away’.

A spokesperson added: “The publicly accessible areas are used by many different residents, businesses and visitors and there is a balance to be provided to support all of these user groups, who sometimes have different needs and priorities. We have to design the available space so it can accommodate all users including motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and buses.”

Mr Atkinson some of these customers have been ‘appealing to the council on our behalf’.

He added: “We objected to it right from the word go – as soon as they sent us the plans and we looked at them and saw a cycle lane. We objected to it straightaway.

“No one came round to chat with us – for us to actually have the opportunity to explain that this is this is why we're not happy with it.

“Everything that we kind of predicted has happened but I didn't realise the full extent or the full impact of what was going to happen.

"It has really impacted our business. What was a little teeming area – where you could always see something going on outside – is now a ghost town.

“People have almost been driven away. It's almost like a no-go area because it's just so difficult to get around and we do rely on footfall coming in.

“I'm concerned about how it's going to impact my business, It's quite soul-destroying really. We’ve worked incredibly hard.

"They are destroying a well-established business with a good reputation and it's absolutely pointless.”

Mr Atkinson said he is ‘grateful to those people who do still continue to come and support us’.

"We can't say how pleased we are to them for doing that,” he said.

"So many people don’t and I understand that they just don't want to take the risk.”

The county council, as the highway authority, said staff can ‘appreciate it can take time’ for users to ‘adapt to changes; to road space and new layouts.

The spokesperson added: “The proposals improve road safety and promote sustainable transport and we have worked positively with local residents and businesses to understand their requirements. We have tried to mitigate and or reduce any loss of parking as part of the scheme by re-providing some spaces a short distance away.

“Studies have evidenced that making our outdoor public spaces more accessible, attractive, comfortable and safe for people walking or wheeling can help to increase the numbers of people actively using public spaces and boosts economic activity with an increase of pedestrian footfall (The Pedestrian Pound, 3rd edition).

"The overarching aim of the scheme is that the combined impact of all the measures – wider footways with a high standard of block paving, planting, drainage improvements, road and footpath surface improvements – will positively shape this public space and increase footfall once the project is complete, in the new year.”