Pollution hotspot

From: Michael LeaperBeristede Close
Call the newsdesk on 01323 414488 or email eastbourne.herald@jpress.co.uk SUS-180130-143238001Call the newsdesk on 01323 414488 or email eastbourne.herald@jpress.co.uk SUS-180130-143238001
Call the newsdesk on 01323 414488 or email [email protected] SUS-180130-143238001

The Government has this week announced a new “clean air strategy”.

Let us hope that East Sussex County Council and the ‘bus companies have taken note of this in relation to the short stretch of Gildredge Road between West Terrace and the Railway Station which is set to become a pollution hotspot unless the number of buses waiting here is reduced. Some people are under the mistaken impression that the current waiting area is a temporary one but it is in fact the proposed permanent location for buses.

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The combination of buses arriving and departing, together with slow moving traffic in the outer lane, will have a detrimental effect on the environment even when the improvements to the roads and pavements have been carried out.

In addition traffic will funnel into a bottleneck at the junction with Terminus Road and drivers wishing to turn left will find it difficult to manoeuvre due to the problem of ‘buses being parked too close to the junction. There is a possible solution and that is to space the ‘buses out by moving some of them further up Gildredge Road – towards South Street and, perhaps, close off the exit from West Terrace into Gildredge Road by making Ivy Terrace and West Terrace “Access Only” from Grove Road. This would not only improve road safety but would enable ‘buses to be parked in the more open environment adjacent to Hyde Gardens.

The town centre improvement scheme is, in the main, to be welcomed but it is essential that we get the transport element of it right.