Cycling on demand

IN response to Michael Dunne’s letter (Gazette, February 24) there has been a demand for many years to allow cycling on the Promenade in Littlehampton and Arun District Council is responding to that demand.

Cycling helps keep people fit and healthy and, therefore, the council is keen to support any initiative which improves the well-being of our residents.

There is also a great deal of evidence from the Continent that it is very safe to mix pedestrians and cyclists in the same space and it seems to work well in Bognor Regis, where people respect other users.

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The safety of all people using the Promenade was paramount when the scheme was being designed.

At that time, the Equality Act 2010 was not in place, however, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 was carefully considered and guidelines laid down by the Department for Transport [DfT] [Local Traffic Note [LTN] 2/04, Section 1.1] were also adhered to.

These guidelines state that, “Converting a footway or footpath to allow use by cyclists should only be done after a rigorous assessment has been carried out... the conversion must be carefully designed to meet the needs, as far as is practicable, of all its intended users.”

Furthermore, independent consultants were employed to do a safety audit to ensure the safety of all users. This was not done by the design team or the council.

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In the unlikely event of an accident, the council will deal with this using the same procedure currently in force for any accident on council land.

Councillor Norman Dingemans

Arun cabinet member for economic and cultural development