Cycle Lewes Newsletter January 2023
Happy New Year & AGM report
The Cycle Lewes Committee wishes all its members, friends & supporters a Happy New Year. 2023 promises to be a busy one for us, with new developments on a number of important cycle routes being announced, Town & District Council elections in May, as well as ongoing development planning applications that will affect cyclists in and around Lewes.
For those who haven’t seen it, our Annual Report for 2022 can be found on our website.
https://www.cyclelewes.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/CycleLewesReportNovember2022Final.pdf
The Egrets Way - New Funding Announced
The Sussex Express has reported that funding for the final phase of the Egrets Way - completing the “missing link” between Piddinghoe & Deans Farm - has been secured.
Once completed (hopefully in 2023), the seven mile walking & cycling path will provide an easy connection through the National Park from Lewes to Newhaven. Currently cyclists have to cycle along the extremely dangerous C7 in order to get to the coast from the County Town.
The completed Egrets Way will also make Lewes a good stopping off point for cycle tourists doing the London to Paris Cycle Route.
This route is used by many hundreds of cyclists during the summer, and is part of the annual “Dieppe Raid”. See attached link on plans for June 2023.
A27 Official Opening of New Cycle Route
National Highways has announced that its new 13 mile path between Firle & Polegate will officially open for cyclists & pedestrians in Spring. We have spoken to the contractors about being involved in plans for the opening and will be back in touch in late March.
It will open alongside the A27, and enable cyclists to avoid the heavy traffic on what is one of East Sussex’s busiest roads.
This news is welcome, but Cycle Lewes says that work still needs to be done on upgrading the existing cycle path between Lewes & Firle. We will continue to lobby National Highways to include this in their future plans with other local groups.
Concerns over Lewes-Falmer Route
We will also use the evidence we gathered from many of you on the dangers of sections of the Lewes-Falmer route last year. We submitted this to Transport Focus who are an independent consumer watchdog who represent the interests of those using roads managed by National Highways. Their report has recently been published.
Its summary findings are not inspiring and do not really acknowledge the scale of the issues and problems facing cyclists. We understand a full report will be sent to National Highways. The road budget is £23 billion: some of that needs to be spent on making these 5 miles safer for cyclists! We’ll keep you posted on progress.
Cycle Parking in Lewes - Sustrans hold workshop in Lewes
There are many barriers to people regularly using their bikes. Among those in Lewes we have the challenge of too many motorised vehicles, lack of cycle lanes & lack of safe, secure cycle parking.
Cycle Lewes has made an audit of existing cycle parking in Lewes and we completed this in late 2022. Our report was submitted to Sustrans who had been commissioned by Lewes District Council (LDC) to look at the potential for better cycling and walking provision in Lewes.
The report outlining problems & possible solutions was sent prior to the workshop they held in December and which we and other community groups attended.
We await Sustrans’ outcomes and recommendations from the workshop & see what the Councils will do in what is an election year. Meanwhile, a few members will continue to explore how we can support community organisations and businesses realise their own ambitions for cycling parking – they know we are valuable customers!
Exceat Bridge
Cycle Lewes has written an open letter to the Sussex Express concerning the recent decision by the South Downs National Park to agree to the proposed new Exceat Bridge. We believe that the new bridge goes against evidence that the road and bridge will result in increased motorised traffic making it more hazardous for cyclists & walkers. No provision has been made for better active travel access. We sent a copy to Active Travel England (ATE). They responded and acknowledged that they will work closely with relevant local authorities (in this case East Sussex County Council - ESCC) to deliver active travel programmes in line with the government’s 2nd Cycling & Walking Strategy.
However, the letter goes on to say that planning decisions & the use of local roads are the responsibility of the local authority provided they take into consideration the relevant legislation.
Active Travel England also confirmed they are not currently statutory consultees on planning matters but will be once fully established. Hopefully they will begin like us to challenge decisions like these!
Unfortunately, ESCC has a track record of putting cars in front of active travel in their policy & planning decisions; decisions which often ignore government policy.
Dr Bike
Many Cycle Lewes members will have seen and used Dr Bike to repair their bikes.
Dr Bike is run by volunteers who have just celebrated its 30th anniversary. During that time the volunteers and location have changed several times but the service has not - They still aim to do whatever they can to keep the people of Lewes on their bikes at minimum cost while raising money for good causes. They are currently at Harvey's Yard every Saturday morning from 10 - 12 unless it is raining hard.
Most of the volunteers do it to enhance their own mechanical skills and the satisfaction of helping other people but some go on to greater things. Stuart decided he liked it so much that he jacked in his job, trained as a professional mechanic, got a job at Mr Cycles in Seaford and now is the head mechanic at The Electric Bike Shop in Uckfield.
After seeing how they operated Dave went on to set up the Cycle Seahaven Dr Bike which provides a similar service in Seaford, Newhaven and Peacehaven. Their youngest recruit Isaiah is just 17 years old and has already been with them for 3 years. He wants to be a professional bike mechanic and has just started working part time at Baker Street Bikes in Brighton.
Dr Bike is always on the lookout for new volunteers, old or young, experienced or inexperienced (training will be provided). The currently have 9 volunteers.
If you already know a bit about bikes just let them know when you can come. If you are wanting to learn it would be better if you could come more regularly (every other week) so you can start to build your knowledge. If you are interested or have any questions send an email to info@drbikelewes.com, a message on their Facebook page or just come along and introduce yourself.
With your help they hope to keep going for another 30 years!
Human Nature: Phoenix Development
We have continued to attend the Access and Mobility Group on behalf of cyclists. This Group is one of several that were set up to engage with community groups on different aspects of the Plan for their area and feed in views. The last meeting takes place next week before their planning application is submitted at the end of January.