Newsletter, August 2023

Cycle theft in Lewes & other local towns

Bike theft by organised crime is on the increase in Lewes and across the county. We know of a number of cases where Cycle Lewes members have had their bike stolen, some from inside the safety of garages.

The bikes are stolen often at night and then left locked with the thieves’ own bike locks for collection in vans at a later date. Lewes has been targeted, but so have neighbouring towns including Brighton.

While we can’t eliminate theft it’s important to ensure that your bike is securely locked & registered with “Bike Register”, as this increases the chance of you getting your bike back. We will continue to liaise with our Councillors and the Police on this issue.

https://www.bikeregister.com

Cycle Parking in Lewes - volunteers needed for Cycle Lewes Working Group

All cyclists in our town want more convenient and secure bike parking and storage in Lewes to encourage and welcome cycling in the town – Cycle Lewes now needs more volunteers to help make it happen.

There are lots of good ideas on how to improve cycle parking and storage in Lewes. These have come from our own Working Group (WG), from the recent ‘Are We There Yet’ travel season at Lewes Climate Hub, and the Lewes District Council commissioned Cycle, Stop and Walk Workshop. The report was published recently and is available via (insert link for report loaded onto our website)

Now, we need to sort and prioritise where to concentrate Cycle Lewes’s efforts among these many proposals and suggestions – and then actually make things happen!

We have a small group working on these issues, but need more volunteers!

Are you passionate about improving cycling provision in town? Could you give a little time to help with this? You may have fresh ideas to contribute, or useful contacts with councils, businesses or other local bodies that should be providing bike parking. However you can help, we’d love to hear from you.

For more details, and to discuss how you could support this initiative, please contact the Cycle Parking Working Group via info@cyclelewes.org.uk

Kidical Mass event (Eastbourne) Sunday September 24 at 14:00 Gildrege Park, Eastbourne

Next month East Sussex County Council is considering its’ consultation on the future of Eastbourne Town Centre. It’s decisions may result in severely limiting cycle provision in the town.

Many cyclists from Lewes will be aware that Eastbourne is a key part of the Sustrans coastal cycle route (Sustrans 2) from Dover to the West Country going through Eastbourne & Brighton. Eastbourne is a natural stopping off place visited by many cycle tourists & day cyclists from Lewes.

Eastbourne Safe Cycling is holding a “Kidical Mass” on Sunday Sept 24th at 2pm, Gildrege Park, Eastbourne to oppose plans to cut back on cycle provision in the town. 

So, if you are free on that Sunday, we would really appreciate any additional people on bikes as backup to make this a really big event!

A few members will go along to support and look at how it’s run, let us know if your interested in going and we can coordinate a ride or take train over.

https://facebook.com/events/s/kidical-mass-for-car-free-east/3554937028162574

https://bespokecyclegroup.org.uk/2023/06/28/bespoke-write-to-active-travel-england/

Join the Eastbourne safe cycling email list here: http://eepurl.com/g6gGnX

Active Travel Cuts update

In our March 2023 Newsletter we wrote about the proposed Government cuts to Active Travel funding; cuts which would have a major impact on walking & cycling initiatives across the country.

More recently the Prime Minister has announced a review of low traffic neighbourhoods which would severely impact traffic calming & active travel. This comes about as a result of the By-Election for Uxbridge & South Ruislip, where the Conservative Party held onto the seat, claiming the expansion of London's Ultra-low Emission Zone (ULEZ), championed by Labour mayor Sadiq Khan was an important factor in their victory.

Cycling UK has reacted to these events and begun a campaign to lobby the government on the need to maintain active travel programmes.

https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/ulez-why-prime-minister-must-reconsider-his-position-clean-air-zones-and-pro-cycling-measures

Update: Low Traffic Lewes (with Lewes Living Streets)

Image: Nick Wiseman

In recent months we have focused on consultation and building a wider consensus around the benefits that could be realised in Lewes if there were less traffic and better infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists, etc.

We secured funding (approx. £18,000) from the Town Council and National Park to hold 4x High Street closures with on-street markets, ‘fun’ events and trader support over the last 6 months or so. Unfortunately, despite several attempts, our street closure applications to the District Council were refused, primarily because the bus companies objected, so these events could not go ahead.

This was particularly disappointing because the Climate Hub transport season (“Are we there yet”) held in June (attended by over 300 people) revealed a lot of support for addressing traffic volumes and improved support for active travel including cycling. There was however a strong plea at the final “citizens assembly” to “win hearts and minds” – ie, ensure we take people with us.

This view aligns with experience from towns where successful interventions have been introduced albeit after years of trying (like Oxford and Cambridge); which emphasises the importance of building a wide collaborative partnership of all interested parties, including those who hold divergent views at present.

We have therefore decided to use the winter months to build this wider partnership and to seek to build a broader consensus around a package of measures that command support.

Following discussions, Lewes Town Council has agreed to take the lead on the development of a ‘Movement Strategy’ for the town which will address transportation issues for all users across the whole of the town. Human Nature have also agreed to take an active role in this work and will aim to ensure as many of the principles of their ‘low car’ development as proposed for the Phoenix site are reflected in the wider town-wide strategy. Cycle Lewes and Lewes Living Streets will take an active part in this work.

Meanwhile, we are in discussions with the bus companies and County Council about how a ‘low traffic’ market and associated activities on the High Street can accommodate through bus travel. We hope to be able to run our ‘pilot’ traffic free days as referred above in 2024 with the support of all Councils, and traders, including the Chamber of Commerce who held something similar in August.

If anyone is keen to join a small working group, led by Steve Pearce, on all aspects of this work please contact Steve at stevepearce139@gmail.com