This is a picture of Bridleway Rye/17/1, which runs from Gibbets Marsh in Rye to Dumb Woman’s Lane. It’s part of the 1066 Country Walk and National Cycle Network Route 2. It could be a wonderful local walk for Rye residents and a scenic traffic-free path where families could cycle together between Rye and Winchelsea, avoiding the A259. The path has been in this state for years.
Last summer, East Sussex County Council (ESCC) obtained a quote of £150,000 to re-surface it. They asked Sustrans, a cycling charity, if they could pay for it. Yes, you read that right. By contrast, in the last three years ESCC has resurfaced 2,336 miles of roadway.
ESCC is currently consulting on the East Sussex Local Transport Plan 2024 – 2050. LTP4, as it is known, will set out how they intend to “plan and provide transport for residents, businesses and visitors in East Sussex now and for future generations”. It aims to “create healthier, safer, sustainable and inclusive communities and a high-quality environment”; “tackle climate change” and “encourage greater use of sustainable modes of transport”. But what, you may well ask, became of LTP3, which contained similar lofty ideals?
In terms of cycling provision, the answer is a big fat zero.
Active Travel England, the body charged with moving the country towards high quality infrastructure for walking, wheeling and cycling, rated every county council in England. East Sussex scored one (rumour has it, they only just scraped that). Our county council is amongst the worst performing in the country, with weak leadership and no overall plan – although those of us battling for safer cycling didn’t need to be told that. In fact, with the reduction in cycle provision in the recent Eastbourne town centre improvements, they’re literally going backwards.
Is it any wonder that, as LTP4 admits, the number of residents cycling has reduced by 33% in the last five years. Can anyone at county hall manage to join the dots here?
In the last five years, ESCC has spent £166 million on roads. In the same period they spent a total of £484,000 on "cycle route construction" although sadly this didn’t actually involve building anything, we assume it was spent on consultations. The last major scheme they built was in 2018, an off-road section of the Horsey Cycle Route in Eastbourne. But they didn’t pay for that either; the money came from a developer contribution.
In October 2020 ESCC published its Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) which set out “a proposed network of cycling and walking routes”. We were initially consulted on this in 2018. Not a single route has been built. ESCC’s only commitment to the LCWIP is to review it in 2024.
Can you guess what the council’s budget is for cycle infrastructure in 2023/2024? Nothing, literally nothing. You’d think, of the £42 million they’ve budgeted for roads in the same period, that some small crumbs would be available. "We rely on outside funding to pay for cycling infrastructure" they say. Why is that? As a citizen, I expect them to be spending my council taxes on what we need for a sustainable future, not going with a begging bowl to cycling charities and then using that as an excuse to do nothing.
Increased storms, flooding, heatwaves, droughts: climate change is here. We need to make changes, and we need to make them fast. That’s not a message that county hall seems to understand. Actions speak louder than words, and their lack of action speaks volumes.
In order to even begin catching up from their decade of inertia, ESCC need to start spending at least £5-10 million a year on active travel infrastructure from their own budget, starting now. They won’t, of course.
Do I have any faith that LTP4 will change anything? Not really. As Greta Thunberg once said, it’s just blah blah blah blah.
No doubt ESCC will respond to this article with fine words about "delivering a robust pipeline of walking and cycling schemes". Indeed. But where is the evidence that they have the leadership, the capability or the willingness to do this? Just keep asking that one question, if you do nothing else. And bear these two simple figures in mind, covering the previous five years: roads budget £166 million. Cycle routes built: 0
The LTP4 consultation (closes February 25th) can be accessed here:
https://consultation.eastsussex.gov.uk/economy-transport-environment/local-transport-plan-4-2024-2050/
There’s a drop-in session at Rye Library on Friday, January 19 from 10am to 12:30pm and from 1:30pm to 4:15pm.
