Letter to the editor: Fantasy in the Eastbourne Local Plan
Now is the time to comment on the new Eastbourne Local Plan 2022-2042. The question you might ask is should councils set ‘ambitious’ targets without a reasonable path to achieve them? In terms of transport the Eastbourne Local plan states “ to seek to achieve a minimum 15% modal shift away from the private car, which is considered to be an ambitious but realistic target.” But in what world is this feasible ?
Within Eastbourne this means instead of 70% of trips by car it would be 55%. That would require massive increases in cycling, walking and bus passengers, as residents change their behaviour. This 15% modal shift might seem small, but with only 2% by bike, 4% by bus and 6% on foot, these total together only 10%. With the predicted shift away from cars trips, this would increase to around 25%, requiring an ‘ambitious’ 150% increase.
So where is the evidence of any ‘shift’ over the last 10 years? Data from East Sussex County Council shows there has been no increase in bus or cycle numbers and for walking perhaps only a slight increase. I believe professional Transport Planners should not be allowed, to state ‘realistic’ modal shifts, without evidence of any current successes or a clear way forward.
So you may ask is this not harmless? The answer is no. Housing developers continue to quote , across the county, these ‘modal shifts’ in their planning submissions, to support their developments. This is on the basis that congestion will be reduced by the councils’ plans and therefore their new housing will not cause any additional traffic. Everybody knows, that in reality, congestion on local roads keeps increasing.
As a cycling and bus campaigner I would like nothing nothing more, than this 15% modal shift, but I need to see evidence, that without a major change, this is even partly realistic
Paul Humphreys – Chichester Close, Willingdon