UPDATE: Lewes Greens And Campaigners In Row Over Road Speed And Safety

Green Party Councillors and campaigners have accused East Sussex of ‘an outrageous failure to act’ by ignoring a petition on road safety signed by nearly 1,000 people.

Green Party campaigners had presented a petition on the 7th February, calling on East Sussex County to review their speed and road safety policies. They say this would normally have come for discussion at the next opportunity on 21st March, but the council are refusing to discuss the issues until at least the Summer. 

Green Party council election candidate Mark Slater from Barcombe & Hamsey said:  

“It’s normal to have a short delay between presenting a petition and having it discussed, but the county council have, without any justification kicked this discussion right into the long grass - an outrageous failure to act. I only think that the Conservatives are running scared with local elections approaching, and hiding from scrutiny of an approach which is so clearly the opposite of what residents want.”

Green Party council election candidate Charlotte Keenan from Newick said:

“Residents are fed up with living in fear of speeding vehicles. We want to feel safe in our own communities, whether we are outside our homes, walking and cycling in our neighbourhoods, or crossing the street. Our petition argues that the Council should prioritise prevention; reduce speed limits to 20 mph in residential areas of local villages; and take into account the views and experiences of local residents.”

 Emily O’Brien, Green Party Councillor and Prospective Parliamentary Candidate said:

“When I started campaigning on speed after my son was run over on a busy A-road, I quickly realised I had no chance, because the county council policies only care about the traffic passing through a place, and ignore about the impact on the people who live there. Residents all over East Sussex are calling for urgent change - and it’s downright cowardly for the County Council to duck these issues.”

A spokesperson for East Sussex County Council said:

“The petition is scheduled to be considered by the lead member for transport and environment on June 5. 

“Due to the work involved in preparing a petition report for a lead member meeting, and limited committee availability, it generally takes around three to four months from the submission of a petition for a report to then be considered at a lead member meeting. In this case, the June meeting is the earliest opportunity for this petition to be considered.”

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Petition with 931 signatures at https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/20splenty/ - with the following wording: 

Residents across East Sussex are fed up with living in fear of speeding vehicles! We want to feel safe in our own communities, whether we are outside our homes, walking and cycling in our neighbourhoods, or crossing the street.

There have been so many petitions and requests for lower speed limits - why do they get ignored?

Because East Sussex County Council have a FAILED approach. Their Alice in Wonderland speed limit policy takes no notice of residents’ wishes, of national safety guidance and refuses to reduce speed limits to anything below the existing road speed!

We are calling on East Sussex County Council to take a NEW approach that will:

1. Make 20mph the default for residential areas - #20splenty
2. Reduce speed limits where there are potential deaths and injuries and not wait for people to die before taking action; follow the government guidance on safe speed limits
3. Include residents’ views! 

The Small Print

East Sussex County Council policy makes a nonsense of asking for a lower speed limit as it states that new speed limits can be set only if the average speeds on the road are already close to the speed being requested.  If speeds are above that level, the road can in theory be ‘re-engineered’ to reduce the speeds to the level needed. However funding will only be made available to re-engineer any road if it meets a threshold for KSI or ‘killed and seriously injured’ statistics relating to that road. Other factors e.g. accidents which don’t qualify as ‘KSI’ no matter how numerous and how clearly a sign of serious ‘accidents waiting to happen’ are completely ignored. As is the impact of speed on residents as opposed to those passing through an area.

Whilst the policy also states that ‘reference should always be made to the latest national guidance’ this is simply not true. For example a 2018 petition from a Green Party activist for A259 speeds from 60mph to 40mph in the Bishopstone to Newhaven area was refused because of existing road speeds. The road has many bends and junctions and frequent accidents. The petition was refused as only the existing road speed was taken into account, even though clearly government safety guidance at para 127 of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-local-speed-limits/setting-local-speed-limits states that a 40mph speed “Should be considered where there are many bends, junctions or accesses, substantial development, a strong environmental or landscape reason, or where there are considerable numbers of vulnerable road users”

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Lewes District Green Party have 2 County Councillors, 8 District councillors (in control of Lewes District Council as part of an alliance)  and a number of Town and Parish Councillors.