The UK government recently announced that it is on course to miss its self-imposed national walking and cycling targets.
The Department for Transport had set targets to double cycling activity by 2025. The latest figures showed that it is unlikely to meet its 2025 cycling target, as well as failing to meet its walking target with the average distance covered by walkers being exactly the same as 15 years ago.
Part of the reason for the lack of increase in walking and cycling activity has been blamed on patchy investment by national and local governments. This translates to people not feeling safe as they walk and cycle on busy roads. Nearly two thirds of adults told the British Social Attitudes survey earlier this year that they felt it was too dangerous.
Nicole Badstuber, a doctoral researcher in urban transport policy and governance at UCL was recently interviewed by the Financial Times and said: “A big problem for cycle safety is junctions, and they’re the most pressing thing to redesign. If you want to encourage people to cycle, you need to have a whole network for people to use – a few bits don’t encourage take-up.”
I’ve written a number of times on how a large number of roads and junctions in Rye just aren’t safe for walkers and cyclists to use. You can imagine my delight when I visited the Martello Developments recent presentation on the redesign of Rock Channel by local firm RX Architects, which includes a large new arts venue. At the heart of the design was a riverside walk and ribbon park. In fact the whole development is largely car free – people who will be attending an event will need to park in Gibbet Marsh and walk to Rock Channel.
If the Martello Development does get planning consent, one thing the authorities will need to tackle is how people coming from the centre of Rye will cross the busy A259 at the junction of Rock Channel/St Margaret’s Terrace. The nearest pedestrian crossing is by the Kettle o' Fish roundabout. People new to Rye and attending an event won’t take such a long a detour to cross the A259 – and nor should they be expected to. It’s about time local authorities put walking and cycling above the car and invested more in safer road crossings in and around Rye.
Obviously this is only a small patch of Rye and I would like to see Highways England, East Sussex County Council, Rother District Council and Rye Town Council working together to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the dangerous junctions in Rye and produce an action plan to make walking and cycling safer. But in the meantime I’m heartened to see that Martello Developments have and I hope the local authorities learn from them.
