Fears St Leonards bus lanes will lead to loss of residents' parking

Jeff Jolley, Pete Oldfield, Bill and Eve Montgomery and Jo Browning

They said the proposals would lead to the loss of valuable car parking spaces.

Peter Oldfield, of Bexhill Road, said: “A great deal of us will lose our parking spaces in the road and it will cause chaos. But the county council says it’s going to go ahead putting the lanes there, which will cost in excess of £450,000.”

Matthew Beaver, county councillor for Maze Hill & West St Leonards division, said: “As traffic is now flowing much more easily and has been reduced by anything up to 40 per cent, according to residents, I think this should be looked at again and the money spent elsewhere improving bus services along Bexhill Road. Money could be spent on introducing raised curbs where needed and it could be used to introduce electronic timing boards.”

An East Sussex County Council spokesman said: “The proposed bus lanes along the A259 are part of a range of improvement measures associated with the Bexhill to Hastings Link Road scheme. They are designed to improve the speed and reliability of bus services and encourage more people to use public transport.

“As well as sections of bus lane, the proposals include an upgrade of facilities at bus stops along Bexhill Road with the introduction of high access kerbs and real-time passenger information displays, which indicate when the next bus is due. We are also working with Hastings Borough Council to upgrade bus shelters.

“The measures are a condition of planning permission and Department for Transport funding for the Link Road, and will help to maintain the reduced traffic levels on the A259 brought about by the development of the Link Road. We appreciate there are concerns about the loss of a limited number of parking spaces, and have already amended plans to minimise this having received feedback from residents.”

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