RECOMMENDATIONS:
The Lead Member is
recommended to advise the petitioners that:
(1)
The
implementation of an upgrade of the existing
zebra crossing in Church Street, Eastbourne, to a signalised
crossing, is not presently a priority for funding through the
County Council’s 2022/23 capital programme for local
transport improvements; and
(2)
The introduction of
pedestrian crossing phases at the Summerdown Road/A259 Church
Street/Victoria Drive/East Dean Road signalised crossroads in the
Old Town area of Eastbourne is not presently a priority for funding
through the County Council’s capital programme for local
transport improvements
1
Background Information
1.1.
At the County Council meeting on 7 December 2021, a petition was
presented by Councillor Ungar in relation to pedestrian crossings
in Eastbourne Old Town. The petition, with 169 signatories,
requested:
“We want the Zebra Crossing on Church Street, Eastbourne
to be upgraded to a Pelican Crossing. We also want a pedestrian
phase installed on the traffic lights at the junction with
Summerdown Road, Church Street, Victoria Drive and East Dean Road,
Eastbourne. The County Council has acknowledged that both these
crossings meet the criteria to be upgraded but has not agreed to
fund these upgrades. Both these crossings are used by children on
their way to and from school and the roads are very
busy.”
1.2.
A copy of the petition is available in the Members’ Room.
Standing Orders provide that where the Chairman considers it
appropriate, petitions are considered by the relevant Committee or
Lead Member and that a spokesperson for the petitioners is invited
to address the Committee. The Chairman has referred this petition
to the Lead Member for Transport and Environment.
2
Supporting Information
2.1
The County Council has previously received requests for the upgrade
of the Church Road zebra crossing to a signalised crossing and the
introduction of pedestrianised phases at the Summerdown Road/ A259
Church Street/Victoria Drive/A259 East Dean Road signalised
crossroads, most recently in March 2021. A location plan is
at Appendix 1.
2.2
A petition was also considered by the Lead Member for Transport and
Environment in May 2019 requesting improvements at the signalised
crossroads for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and
cyclists. The Lead Member resolved to advise the petitioners
that the request had been assessed through our high level sift and
detailed assessment processes but was not a high enough priority at
the time for inclusion in the 2019/20 capital programme of local
transport improvements.
Scheme Assessment
process
2.3
The County Council has a limited amount of funding to develop local
transport improvements and we need to ensure that we target our
resources to those schemes which will be of greatest benefit to our
local communities. To help us prioritise the numerous requests
received for improvements, we developed a two-stage process to
determine which schemes should be considered for funding through
our capital Programme for Transport Improvements.
2.4
The first stage is a high level sift which assesses the level to
which the scheme would contribute towards delivering the
County’s Local Transport Plan (LTP) objectives –
improve economic competitiveness and growth; improve safety, health
and security; tackle climate change; improve accessibility and
enhance social inclusion and improve quality of life.
2.5
Subject to meeting high level sift benchmark score, schemes are
then progressed to a second, detailed appraisal stage. This
detailed appraisal assesses at a more granular level the extent to
which the scheme would fulfil the LTP objectives, its relative
value for money, and the potential risks associated with its
delivery. In addition, an assessment is made as to the level of
benefit and impact the scheme would have upon the local community,
whether the proposals feature within a known area for regeneration,
and also whether any sources of external funding are available,
such as development contributions.
2.6
The outcomes of the detailed appraisal create a prioritised list of
schemes for potential inclusion in the capital programme of local
transport improvements. The number of new schemes entering the
programme on an annual basis will be dependent on several factors
including the number of ongoing scheme commitments within the
current programme, the funding associated with these that must be
taken forward, time limited funding associated with particular
improvements as well as the need to ensure that the scheme
programme has a mix of schemes of different sizes and types to
ensure that the overall programme is deliverable.
Church Street zebra crossing
2.8
In February 2022, the detailed appraisal for the scheme request
– as with all other prioritised schemes - has been
reassessed. As a result of several new detailed appraisals
having recently been added to the list, the scheme now ranks 24 out
of the 79 detailed appraisals conducted. Therefore, the scheme was not included in the capital programme
for local transport improvements in 2022/23.
Summerdown Road/A259 Church Street/Victoria Drive/A259 East Dean
Road
2.9
Similarly, the request received in March 2021 for the introduction
of a pedestrian phase to the traffic lights at the junction of
Summerdown Road, Church Street, Victoria Drive and East Dean Road
met the high level sift benchmark score and progressed to a
detailed appraisal. Following this process, the scheme was
ranked 37 out of 71 detailed appraisals assessed in March 2021 and
it subsequently was not put forward for possible inclusion into the
capital programme for local transport improvements in
2021/22. Because of its ranking relative to other schemes, it
has not been considered for inclusion in the 2022/23 capital
programme of local transport improvements.
A259 Corridor
Study
2.10
The County Council commissioned a study last year relating to the
A259 South Coast Corridor between Brighton and Eastbourne which
forms part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) designated
Major Road Network (MRN). This multi-modal study is seeking to
identify strategic corridor and specific localised interventions
for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users, as well as
localised road and junction capacity improvements, along and around
the hinterland of the A259 corridor.
2.11
To date, two sets of workshops have been undertaken with
stakeholders who have identified various priorities along the A259,
including in the area between East Dean Road and the junction with
Upperton Road, to be considered for inclusion as part of the
package of interventions taken forward on the corridor. The long
list of potential interventions are currently being assessed and
short listed for inclusion in the proposed package. This
assessment is based on background evidence regarding the current
and future problems on the corridor, the appraisal against the DfT
MRN as well the local study objectives, and stakeholder
feedback.
2.12
The outcomes of the study, alongside Transport for the South
East’s Outer Orbital Study which has considered strategic
interventions for the wider A259 corridor, will support the
development of a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) to start
making the case for funding for the A259. Subject to Government
approval of the SOBC, which is programmed for submission to DfT
later this year, the business case will then need to be taken
through the outline and final business case stages over the next 3
to 4 years before any MRN funding from Government would be
available.
3
Conclusion and Reasons for Recommendations
3.1 The requests for pedestrian
improvements at the Church Street zebra crossing and the Summerdown
Road/A259 Church Street/Victoria Drive/A259 East Dean Road
signalised crossroads in Eastbourne Old Town have been assessed
using the County Council’s scheme prioritisation process for
local transport improvements. Whilst both have been
identified as schemes for potential inclusion in the capital
programme for local transport improvements through the assessment
process, their ranking relative to other schemes within the
prioritised list means they have not been considered for inclusion
in the 2022/23 programme. Both requests will continue to be
retained on record for possible inclusion in a future year’s
programme.
3.2 Therefore, it is
recommended that the Lead Member for Transport and Environment
advises the petitioners that the two scheme requests for pedestrian
improvements in Eastbourne Old Town are not presently high
priorities for the allocation of County Council funding in the
2022/23 capital programme for local transport improvements.
Director of Communities, Economy
and Transport
Contact Officer: Jon
Wheeler
Tel. No. 01273
482212
Email: jon.wheeler@eastsussex.gov.uk
LOCAL
MEMBERS
Councillor
Ungar
BACKGROUND
DOCUMENTS
None