Support for £5m A259 cycle and walking route project
Proposals for a £5m project to create a six-mile walking and cycling route along the A259 from Chichester to Emsworth have been given support by Chichester District Council.
And members agreed on Tuesday (January 11) with recommendations from the council’s environment panel that the installation of shared-use paths – for pedestrians and cyclists – through several villages along the route needed ‘further consideration’.
Plans for the Chichester to Emsworth route were put forward by National Highways – formerly Highways England – and recently underwent an eight-week public consultation.
The meeting was told that, of the 436 people who
took part, 257 (59 per cent) supported the scheme and 148 (34 per cent) did not.
During the meeting, concerns were raised by groups such as Chicycle and the West Sussex Cycle Forum about safety, whether the scheme would reduce speeds along the A259 and whether cyclists would even use the new facilities.
Liberal Democrat group leader Adrian Moss described it as ‘flawed’, saying it needed to be changed.
A report to the meeting said that alternative ideas for the route put forward by the Chichester & District Cycle Forum and a number of parish councils had been deemed ‘not technically feasible’.
Alan Sutton (Con, Fittleworth) accepted that the scheme was ‘far from ideal’ but stressed that the current designs would be ‘far from the final plan’.
Insisting that the cabinet was listening to people’s concerns, he added: “There’s been an awful lot of work in the background to take into account the various views and to try to come to a sensible solution that not only represents the residents and the users but gives us the opportunity to do something for the future.”
The district council’s cabinet noted the discussions and asked for Chichester District Council to be consulted on any changes to the scheme.