Getting Around Lightly Saturday 8 November, Polegate Stephen Hardy, MBE Trustee CPRE Rother and Hastings

Have we been here before? 2002 South Coast Corridor Multi-Modal Study or 1992 Folkestone - Honiton Trunk Route 1946 Trunk Roads Act If you love the Sussex countryside

Have we been here before? At least then we were aware of the vision Now it seems it is road-building by stealth. What did SoCoMms propose? If you love the Sussex countryside

Have we been here before? Surprisingly it suggested Local initiatives: improved facilities for local journeys, by bus, walking and cycling green travel plans to work safer routes to school education about transport better planning of new development If you love the Sussex countryside

Have we been here before? Local public transport improvements: quality bus partnerships improved bus services, particularly in the evening and at weekends bus priority measures improved interchanges cross ticketing better information systems If you love the Sussex countryside

Have we been here before? Rail improvements: high frequency service Hastings to Eastbourne double track from Hastings to Ashford half-hourly service Ashford to Southampton new stations light rapid transit in the Southampton area If you love the Sussex countryside

Have we been here before? Demand management: increased parking charges in town centres charges for workplace parking in towns more park and ride If you love the Sussex countryside

Have we been here before? Roads: improvement to Chichester by-pass A29/A27 junction improvements Arundel by-pass improvements to Worthing-Lancing road Beddingham level crossing replacement on and off-line improvements at Selmeston and Wilmington Bexhill-Hastings Link Road If you love the Sussex countryside

So what have we got now on the 2014 agenda? Just the roads – apart from those that have already been developed But all the rest of the SoCoMms agenda should come first If you love the Sussex countryside

What is our local experience? We have the Hastings to Bexhill Link Road (aka the Road to Nowhere) being built at the moment - original estimate £50m; current cost £113m and rising does not link with the A21 simply a tool to move the development boundaries in Hastings and Bexhill no attempt at public transport improvements If you love the Sussex countryside

What is our local experience? What has happened with the Polegate by-pass? opened in 2002 in a CPRE study in 2005, one year after opening, total traffic in the area had grown by 27% no reduction in accidents reduction in the use of Polegate for shopping 14 years on, the scar of Cophall roundabout still remains If you love the Sussex countryside

Summary Governments, both national and local, have got their current priorities wrong. We need to get back to using alternative solutions to road building for the sake of our environment our personal safety our personal economy If you love the Sussex countryside