Why we need the quick route to cycling solution

Standard-waving crowds massed on the cliffs looking out to sea as if expecting some enemy force to emerge from the mists at any moment.

It was a mighty impressive sight.

But rather than preparing to do battle with a foreign invader these people were fighting for something to improve the health and enjoyment of residents.

The mass bike ride and walk arranged by HastingsUrbanBikes in support of the Sustrans Big Lottery bid for a new cycle route should be welcomed.

A Bexhill to Hastings path for cyclists and walkers has long been the missing link on the journey stretching along the south coast.

To encourage exercise and allow the public to do so in safety can be no bad thing.

Whether the 600,000 project will come to fruition remains to be seen.

If and when it does, planners need to make sure they get it right because, bizarrely, Bexhill has a chequered history when it comes to cycle lanes.

Anybody who uses Cooden Drive will know of the farcical county efforts to place a path for cyclists on the road.

Some genius at county hall decided it would be a good idea for the lane to run adjacent to the same kerb where residents park their cars.

As a result cyclists can either weave in and out of parked vehicles or take the more sensible, if undesirable, route and just use the main road.

The promenade cycle path is an even larger bone of contention and has been several years in the making.

Currently Rother's bylaws prevent cyclists from using the promenade. The local authority has long been against the use of bikes there for safety reasons.

While such considerations must be taken into account, it must be frustrating for cyclists that they can ride happily along the seafront at Hastings by virtue of nothing more complicated than a simple white line painted on the pavement.

Meanwhile East Sussex County Council, under whose remit a cycle lane would fall, plans another public consultation on the subject after a lack of people came forward to give an opinion on previous plans.

It seems incredible something so basic, enjoyed as a valued leisure facility in other towns, could be viewed as so complicated and take so long to create.

The Observer looks forward to the Hastings to Bexhill network.

We just hope it works out better than the others the town has had to endure.