Agenda item

In accordance with Chichester District Council’s scheme for public question time as amended by Full Council on 24 September 2019 the Council will receive any questions which have been submitted by members of the public in writing by noon two working days before the meeting. Each questioner will be given up to three minutes to ask their question. The total time allocated for public question time is 15 minutes subject to the Chair’s discretion to extend that period.

The following public question was submitted by Mr Oliver English:

I think it would be fair to say that we need more provisions for cyclists, so my question has more than one part

Currently the WSCC Pop up Covid Cycle Lanes are causing huge amounts of chaos around Chi, including blocking emergency vehicles in congestion, people such as myself experiencing pollution in their homes on a regular basis since the cycle lanes are causing more congestion and more cars are sitting idling in traffic jams, to the first part of my question, aren't CDC concerned about the negative impact of this poorly thought out scheme on businesses and residents and are you talking to WSCC in order for them to make some urgent safety changes. No crossings for cyclists or pedestrians to use.

Chi seems to already have some good secretions of cycle links. Is there any plans to link up the likes of Centurion Way with the canal basin, perhaps with a provision for cyclists to use the pedestrianised centre? 

Is CDC adopt a joint up approach, so that in future any out of town shops such as Lidl must include provisions for cycle and public transport links, if car journeys are to be discouraged? 

Cllr Plant responded as follows:

Thank you for statement and questions. The Council agrees that greater provision for walking and cycling is important given the many health, environmental and economic advantages of these active, self-propelled, travel modes. CDC is currently out to consultation on its draft Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, which is available on the Council’s  ‘Let’s Talk’ webpages. WSCC has also produced a LCWIP, Sustainable Travel Package and Local Transport Improvement Plan for Chichester. Over the years CDC has grant funded many additional bike racks in the city centre, promoted active travel to schools through grant funded Sustrans’ Bike It officers and is supporting the development of the Chichester to Selsey Greenway through grant which is delivering the necessary baseline ecological surveys.

We are aware of the diversity of views on social-media and the local press that are prevalent about the WSCC pop-up cycle scheme in Chichester. The scheme has been delivered by WSCC following a successful bid to DfT for the government’s post-Covid recovery Emergency Active Travel Fund. The scheme, as with those across the UK, is designed to provide room for social-distanced cycling and walking, facilitate safer walking and cycling as a way of locking-in the increased prevalence of those modes throughout Covid Lockdown and minimising the use of public transport to enable social-distancing.

CDC is in regular contact with WSCC who, as the local Highway Authority, have received the bulk of the feedback on the pop-up scheme and are highly aware of the many views expressed. WSCC confirm that they are liaising with Sussex Police, West Sussex Fire and Rescue and Sussex Ambulance Service to better understand any issues that may arise. There are no immediate plans to amend the scheme though a Road Safety Review is programmed for the week commencing 21 September 2020 with a wider review of the scheme to be undertaken in early October.

CDC has an air quality monitoring station on Orchard Street and we are watching the data carefully for signs that the scheme is having a significant impact which, to date, is not evident. Air quality across the city has seen improvements in recent years and in most places is compliant with UK air quality standards which are designed to protect those most vulnerable to the impact of poor air quality. Computerised air quality modelling predicts that air quality will continue to improve in the coming years. Nevertheless we are not complacent and continue to monitor air pollution in many places and are currently rewriting our Air Quality Action Plan.

There are crossing points indicated on the existing Chichester pop-up scheme. In most cases these offer a shorter pedestrian route across the road than would otherwise be the case. WSCC has bid for a second tranche of DfT monies and, should WSCC be awarded the grant, then further amendments could be made to the scheme. WSCC has set-up a member led task and finish group to agree the detail of what the second tranche monies would be spent on and crossing points is one possibility.

There are no specific plans to link Centurion Way with the canal basin. Nevertheless the Southern Gateway development includes the aspiration to make the area’s regeneration walking and cycling friendly and CDC’s draft CDC LCWIP includes a route along Westgate. We are working to integrate the LCWIP into planning considerations by associating it with the emerging revised Local Plan and WSCC’s Local Transport Plan rewrite. Whilst CDC is the Local Planning Authority we take our transport related advice from WSCC highways who specify what any planning application should deliver by way of infrastructure and layout that will encourage non-car mode travel. For many people cycling to a supermarket is unlikely to be a viable option for shopping trips.