The Ringmer to Lewes Cycleway has generated considerable column inches in the Local Press. Therefore, I decided to stick in my views with the following letter to the Editor of the Sussex Express.
Dear Sir
Recent comments and letters published in the Sussex Express on the Ringmer to Chalk Pit Cycleway are revealing an inconsistency and a lack of full disclosure from our elected representatives. They talk of the completion in the future, but not of the route, the when or the cost.
I support the concept of the Cycleway but consider the current project in the wrong place, over engineered, not fully thought through and a poor use of funds coming from the public purse.
Over the past couple of weeks councillors have commented about spending the windfall from the developer of The Forges by March 2011 or losing it. Obviously they are in a panic to spend despite there allegedly being a five year window of opportunity. What have they been doing over the past 4½ years?
The County Council says that upgrading and repairing the footpath would have been more expensive. I find this hard to believe. The first part of the Cycleway costing £235,000 is the easiest to build with relatively level ground and on land I understand that has been donated or is already in public ownership. The next 700 yards is more complex with height differences, slopes and on land that, I presume, is not owned by the highway authority. I am not a road builder but these elements all indicate a much higher cost as well as there being a huge planning issue – widening a road by 2.5m across virgin downland would normally meet considerable opposition.
The north side has the footpath on public land – it is level, simple to surface and even has a wall that after some sympathetic repairs would become an attractive feature. I find it hard to accept that this is not the cheaper job.
The southern route has a problem approaching Earwig Corner but it could turn off onto the rough road that runs between the Ringmer Road and the top of Mill Road. However, this would involve building and surfacing some 250 yards of full size road. Has someone come up with the solution to the routing of this section and calculated the costs? The northern footpath route can simply and cheaply run to the A26, cross it into the residential Prince Charles Road and then into Church Lane.
The common statement from all the elected people is that this is not taxpayers money and that more (public?) funds will be available in the future. Do they ignore the near £90,000 of additional funding already coming from the County for this first section. Also, the gain from the developer is money that goes into the public purse just like business rates. It does not affect taxpayers directly but they end up paying for it in higher priced products and services. I bet the owners of the houses at The Forges consider the extra £3,000 or more that was slapped onto the price of their new homes is a tax.
The Cycleway is being extended to the end of Gote Lane we are told because it is safer than the main road. Whoever thinks that the 30mph narrow Gote Lane is safer for cyclists that the 30mph wide main road through the village cannot be exposing their life or limbs along this race track of a country road. I feel a lot safer cycling on the main road with its extra width. I would also question those who think that double width cycle lanes are needed over their entire length for the rare occasions when two mobility scooters may want to pass. This is just over-kill and a costly over-specification.
Will any of our elected representatives who are so keen to spend our money on this grandiose project reveal how much the full length Ringmer to Lewes Cycleway along the “southern route” is likely to cost. The County Council says it would have been more expensive to upgrade the existing footpath (not that it wouldn’t be allowed) – how much more expensive? Have the plans for the completion of the project been drawn up and costed? And how much will come from taxpayers?
Yours sincerely
Graham White
Ringmer
