Make Piddinghoe Safer for All: A community proposal
Residents of the local village of Piddinghoe are pushing for a 30mph speed limit through the village’s ‘pinch point’ on the busy C7 Road and to pave a verge to improve safety and accessibility for walkers, horse riders and cyclists. They’re asking for everyone’s support, as Piddinghoe Climate Action campaigners explain.
Piddinghoe is a village in East Sussex. The busy C7 Road that links Lewes to Newhaven passes through a narrow “pinch point” between two sections of the village. Residents have identified a short, 200-metre section of path on the “kiln” side of the road that could be paved to accommodate non-car users such as mobility vehicles, pedestrians and some cyclists.
This would also allow people to cross more safely onto the Egret’s Way – the seven-mile long shared space for cyclists and pedestrians that aims to offer a scenic alternative route from Lewes to Newhaven. To support this proposal (and to help with road safety generally) we are asking for traffic speeds to be reduced to 30mph along this stretch.
Our proposal to improve the path and lower the speed limit at this 200-metre pinch point aims to:
- improve safety for walkers and cyclists
- minimize wildlife environmental impact
- avoid costly and disruptive construction.
The 200-metre path in question is around 1.8 metres wide in most sections and so, with minor adjustments and relatively low cost, could accommodate a variety of users, including mobility vehicles as mentioned above (see visualization below).
How the Pidddinghoe “pinch point” currently looks and how it could be improved for users with a 1.8m pavement
This is in contrast to alternative plans to extend the Egret’s Way. To explain, this 200-metre section of road is intended to be the seventh and final phase of the Egret’s Way. However, this would involve geological surveys, road re-alignment and narrowing, and moving power poles and cables, all costing an estimated £1.5 million and involving significant disruption.
The plans would also require destruction of hedgerows from the north-bound bus stop, the use of coloured tarmac, and street lighting, all affecting wildlife, the environment, private gardens and the Dark Skies of the National Park.
Moreover, East Sussex Highways (which manages the county’s roads system) will not guarantee that there will be any speed reduction at all to accommodate these cycle path proposals. Given the current 50mph speed limit with some cars driving at 60mph or more, local people are very worried that the current Egret’s Way plans will make a very bad situation even more dangerous, increasing the risk that people who do not know the road may be injured or even killed.
Speed reduction has been a decades-long desired outcome on this stretch of Piddinghoe among residents and visitors alike. East Sussex Highways have always maintained that the C7 is a strategic route when the A26 is closed. A26 closure happens rarely. In any case, traffic could still go at 30mph through this short section of road on those rare occasions.
However, East Sussex Highways have stated they are only interested in A and B roads. So although, the C7 handles vast amounts of cut-through traffic and people drive faster on it than on the A26, it is labelled a C road, so Highways will not devote time and money to it.
Finally, some residents feel the vast amount of money to complete the Egret’s Way Cycle Path (effectively this 200-metre section) could be better spent on flood mitigation in Piddinghoe. Some existing sections of the Egret’s Way Cycle Path were underwater when the River Ouse overtopped its banks last winter. The surface specification was not built to withstand flooding and some washed-away sections had to be replaced two years after being completed.
To support the Make Piddinghoe Safer for All campaign, you can:
- Contact East Sussex Highways to express support for a 30mph speed limit at the Piddinghoe ‘pinch point’
- Reach out to local representatives or councillors
- Share info about our proposal with others in your area.