Eastbourne pedestrian crossing improvements plea declined

On Monday (March 14), Cllr Claire Dowling, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, considered a petition calling for a zebra crossing in Eastbourne’s Church Street to be upgraded to a traffic light-controlled pelican crossing.

The petition, signed by 169 people, had also called for a pedestrian phase to be added to a set of traffic lights at the junction of Summerdown Road, Church Street, Victoria Drive and East Dean Road.

Speaking on behalf of the petitioners, ward councillor John Ungar (Lib Dem) argued the improvements would make the area far safer, in particular for children at a nearby pre-school.

Officers, however, had advised against funding the proposals at this time, arguing that the council has limited resources available for roadworks each year and the works had not rated high enough for immediate completion.

Officers said both schemes had been requested previously and have undergone detailed appraisal, but were not high enough priority to be included in the current round of projects to receive funding., 

According to council papers, the Church Street crossing scheme had ranked 22 out of 71 prioritised requests when last reviewed in March 2021, while the traffic light proposal had ranked as 37th.

As a result, neither scheme had been put forward for possible inclusion into the capital programme for local transport improvements for 2022/23.

Cllr Dowling ultimately agreed with this advice, but told petitioners the schemes would remain on the books for consideration in future years.

She said: “I’ve heard what you have to say, but I think you can understand we are inundated with the number of requests that we get.

“It got through [the first stage], but because of the ranking there just isn’t sufficient funding to push it through this year. That is not to say that they won’t continue to be retained on record for possible inclusion in a future year.”

SEE ALSO: Hundreds of plastic bottles washed up on Worthing coast leading to clean-up operation

HAVE YOU READ: Bin strike begins in Adur and Worthing - ‘Large-scale disruption’

For the latest breaking news where you live in Sussex, follow us on Twitter @Sussex_World and like us on Facebook @SussexWorldUK