No borough council in living memory has ever raised the slightest objection to more and more, bigger and bigger vehicles coming into the town centre. The town has become increasingly dominated by traffic and its associated noise, fumes and intimidation. More and more cars crammed into the same amount of space inevitably leads to a degraded polluted environment.
As a result, walking and cycling have become progressively less enjoyable and more dangerous, so persuading even more people into their cars. Very few politicians accept the need to break this vicious circle. So what we have is a never ending attac
k on the pedestrian and cyclist – and because buses are caught up in the congestion – bus passengers as well, including those large numbers daily using Eastbourne Borough Council's own buses!
Members of the Campaign for Better Transport – East Sussex believe that the key objectives for the town are:
To reduce the carbon footprint of the town, especially by reducing CO2 emissions from transport;
To reverse domination of the town by traffic by rebalancing transport in favour of walking, cycling and public transport;
To make the town centre a safer and more pleasant place for residents and visitors to visit, shop and simply stay to enjoy a high quality public realm.
To achieve these objectives, there have to be incentives. We believe that conditions must improve for pedestrians and cyclists – currently the cycle network is stalled and there are no links between the town centre and hospital/colleges. And the borough council's policy to introduce a default 20mph speed limit in residential areas should be implemented as quickly as possible to increase the numbers of walking and cycle trips into town or to local shops.
There should be some attempt to coordinate bus services and bus information. It is a huge waste of public money to have installed 'real time' bus information screens when half the buses are not included (as yet, Renown Cavendish bus services are absent), and an even bigger waste when the 'quality bus partnership routes' are undermined by a virtually free car friendly parking regime.
Clearly incentives will only work where special favours granted to motorists in the form of free and unlimited parking opportunities are removed. That's why we need a parking strategy.
Towns where rising traffic levels go unchallenged are failing towns with failed politicians. Who'd want to go there?
Derrick Coffee, County Officer, Campaign for Better Transport – East Sussex, Mayfield Place, Eastbourne
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