Bus lanes on Bexhill Road were not a condition for funding the Hastings link Road

So we now have East Sussex County Council (ESCC) hell bent on extending the bus lanes in Bexhill Road still further, creeping along like a cancerous growth, making life a misery for residents and users, and making this road more dangerous by the day.

The project which was supposed to enhance the environment has had just the opposite effect in that just as everything had settled down after the link road had been in use for a couple of years, traffic is now forced into the middle of the road, cyclists and motorcycles are in danger of being trapped between vehicles and buses and residents face grave danger every time they go in or out of their driveways, all because ESCC’s Department of Communities, Economy and Transport forced this scheme through by saying it was a condition of funding for the link road.

This was definitely NOT true, the funding was granted on condition that measures be taken to encourage the use of alternative means of public transport, ie, cycles, trains, walking and using buses.

It did not mean an exclusive lane for buses, and implying that this was a condition was misleading.

More important to potential bus passengers are real time information screens and all weather shelters, and this is where any money should have been spent.

Furthermore since the link road has been opened, traffic levels along Bexhill Road dropped considerably as acknowledged by ESCC, rendering exclusive bus lanes unnecessary and a complete waste of taxpayers’ money at a time of economic austerity.

For these directors to push this through without further consulting all parties that were or could be affected is unforgivable, and a gross mismanagement of the county’s budget.

There should be a judicial review of the way in which this whole issue was conducted against the wishes of the vast majority of residents.