This is a plea for the authorities, who propose new traffic schemes, to more robustly support them. Today, yet another piece in the mainstream media, about those who are against the short bus lane on Station Parade in Eastbourne. So I thought I would look again at the 2025 Committee notes to remind myself of the claimed ‘benefits’ of the scheme.
Firstly, in the presentation, there is mention of double yellow lines or similar restrictions for the length of Station Parade and vehicles are not allowed to stop there even for loading . So the bus lane would not change this.
Currently the roundabout, at the end of Station Parade and Grove Road, is often a bottleneck. At peak times it is gridlocked, as traffic cannot squeeze through. Both the schemes by both East Sussex County Council (ESCC) and the Enterprise Centre propose some form of extension of the existing bus stop and making more space.
The Enterprise Centre proposal describes a “Bus stop extension at Eastbourne Railway station”. This has to go behind the current one, near where the tree is. The ESCC solution of a bus lane removes the problem by taking this space up regardless.
For overall traffic flow, what is clear is that both the Enterprise’s and ESCC provide a better solution than ‘‘Do Nothing (DN).
What is always disappointing to me, is that East Sussex Council do not seem, in such ‘newspaper’ articles to defend their proposals robustly and it appears that it is left to members of the public to do so.
So my appeal, is for those who propose such schemes, to come out and defend them.
Paul Humphreys – Chichester Close Willingdon