13.1 The Lead Member considered a report by the Director of Communities, Economy and Transport.
13.2 Councillor Ungar spoke on behalf of the petitioners for the petition calling on the County Council for a zebra crossing, bollards and repairs to the road surface in Green Street, Eastbourne spoke to highlight safety of the privately owned footway by the shop forecourts, the obstruction of parked vehicles on the public footway and lack of parking enforcement in the area.
DECISIONS
13.3 The Lead Member RESOLVED to advise petitioners that:
(1) A potential scheme to implement a zebra crossing in Green Street between Caffe Corro and Cheriton Court has been assessed through the approved High Level Sift process and is not a priority for the County Council at the present time;
(2) Green Street will be assessed as part of this year’s prioritisation process for potential inclusion in the 2025/26 Community Focussed Safety Scheme programme;
(3) A request for bollards to be installed in the footway between the Post Office and the end of the parade of shops has been considered however, it is not appropriate for this location; and
(4) Areas of the carriageway in Green Street have been reported to East Sussex Highways to inspect and action as appropriate.
REASONS
13.4 The County Council has a limited amount of funding to develop local transport improvements and needs to ensure that resources are targeted to those schemes which will be of greatest benefit to local communities. To help prioritise the numerous requests received for improvements, a process was developed to determine which schemes should be funded through the Integrated Transport Programme. A request for a zebra crossing in Green Street, between Caffe Corro and Cheriton Court, Eastbourne has been assessed to determine if it might be a priority for future consideration; however, it did not achieve the benchmark score to be taken forward at this time. However, Green Street will be assessed as part of this year’s prioritisation process for potential inclusion in the 2025/26 Community Focussed Road Safety programme.
13.5 Bollards are not designed as vehicle restraint systems. In addition to this, vehicles can legitimately park on the Post Office side of the road between 6pm and 8am Monday – Saturdays and all-day Sundays and the provision of bollards in the footway would restrict vehicles from doing so. The request for bollards to be installed in the footway between the Post Office and the end of the parade of shops is therefore not appropriate at this location.
13.6 A site visit by Senior Traffic and Safety Officers identified some areas of carriageway that require further inspection for maintenance such as deteriorating road surface and faded road markings. These have been reported to East Sussex Highways who will determine whether these areas meet the agreed intervention levels and what action will be taken.