Improvements to main cycling and walking routes into Horsham put forward

The town’s first ever Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) has been published for consultation by Horsham District Council during August.

It aims to boost walking and cycling habits in the area and identifies five corridors in Horsham, all leading to the town centre, as suitable for future investment.

Post-lockdown, measures to boost cycling and walking networks by promoting sustainable travel all come under a wider initiative to meet future environmental targets. Goals include reducing carbon emissions, improving air quality, tackling traffic congestion and enhancing public health.

Peter Burgess, cabinet member for Horsham town centre, suggested government funding towards cycling and walking projects would only be available for ‘high quality schemes, based on well thought-out infrastructure plans’.

He added: “As a council, we are committed to ensuring that Horsham town centre is ready for these opportunities.

“We want our residents to take a key role in conversations on how we make our main routes into the town centre truly walkable and safe to cycle.”

The LCWIP has been developed with the help of leading consultants and stakeholders such as North Horsham Parish Council, Warnham Parish Council, Horsham Denne and Horsham Forest neighbourhood councils, Horsham District Cycling Forum, Horsham Town Community Partnership and The Horsham Society.

The five key pathways identified by the LCWIP stakeholders are:

Corridor 1a - North Horsham via Rusper Road, Littlehaven, Kings Road and North Street:

Corridor 1b – North Horsham via Northlands Road, North Heath Lane, Wimblehurst Road and North Parade:

Corridor 2 - Roffey via Crawley Road, Kings Road and North Street.

Corridor 3 - Forest School via Comptons Lane, Bennetts Road, Brighton Road, Queen Street and East Street.

Corridor 4 - Southwater via Worthing Road with an option along Two Mile Ash.

Corridor 5 - Broadbridge Heath via Broadbridge Way, Farthings Hill, Guildford Road, with an option over the A24 cycle/foot bridge, Highwood Mill and Hills Farm Lane.

Corridor 6 – Warnham Mill via Warnham Road, North Parade and Springfield Road.

Lib Dem district councillor Ruth Fletcher welcomed the production of the draft LCWIP as she described how they have been caught in a ‘vicious cycle’ where as traffic levels grow the less safe it is to cycle or let children walk to school and then the more likely people are to drive, even for short trips.

She felt the LCWIP is about investing to make walking and cycling the natural choice for more of these short trips, making Horsham a better place for everyone to live, work and visit.

She added: “The potential benefits are easier, cheaper, healthier and more enjoyable travel, less congestion, less noise and pollution in the streets where we live, and a more attractive centre that brings more business to our town.”

Mrs Fletcher pointed out that the LCWIP was just the ‘first step’ with more work needed to get projects off the ground and attract funding.

She added: “Above all, this draft has no timescales, budgets or commitments to action. Is Horsham District Council really committed, or will this be yet another report that gets quietly filed under ‘forget’.

“There is a black hole at the heart of the plan which has no proposals for the town centre -the most important destination and the key connection for any usable cycle network.

“The plan itself admits that it does not include a joined-up network –just some radial routes. And there is no mention of a desperately needed cycle route to link Horsham with jobs at Manor Royal and Gatwick. At the moment people regularly take their life in their hands cycling along or across the A264.

“Both the Warnham and Nuthurst neighbourhood plans have recognised the need for cycle routes from their villages to Horsham – there is nothing for them in this draft.

“Walking is especially important to the oldest, the youngest and those with disabilities. The details on walking are very thin. Where are the commitments to better dropped kerbs, level pavements for wheelchairs, removal of pavement parking, more pedestrian crossings with reduced waiting times, and an end to all those half-hearted shared-use pavements which both pedestrians and cyclists hate?”

To comment visit the consultation website by Friday August 28.

What do you think about the plan? Email our letters page.

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