Irregular Parking in Church Road and Ellenslea Road

Posted by admin on 27/1/10 • Categorised as Bohemia Life, No. 61 Jul 2008, No. 63 Sep 2008

*Fr. Alex (St Peter’s Church) writes (Jul 2008) with concerns of Road Safety:As I drive around on errands I find that there are two particular hazard spots in St. Leonards and I am sure other drivers must have spotted these. I would like to draw Hastings Borough Council’s attention to my concerns as I have seen several near misses because of the restriction of the road width, in both cases due to irregular parking.The first of these is the top of Church Road as it joins Bohemia Road. The residents living opposite the Lidl car park have a right to park in front of their houses. However, the overflow of Lidl’s car park, (on the left hand side of Church Road looking north) the double yellow lines stop too short and the road narrows dangerously through cars being parked there. When cars enter from Bohemia Road coming from the direction of the town to go down Church Road they cannot see any vehicles coming up Church Road and a collision is inevitable.

The second of these hazard spots is the bottom of Ellenslea Road as you turn the corner to face north up Southwater Road. There are white zig-zag lines which I understood to be nonparking curbs. This corner is very dangerous too. Drivers turn that blind corner often too fast, failing to see vehicles approaching from the opposite direction. Again the road width is severely restricted by these cars parking there and in conjunction with the sharp corner there will be a collision. Hastings Borough Council can you please make these hazard places safer for traffic and pedestrians by extending the double yellow lines from the top of Church Road to the entrance of Lidl car park. At the bottom of Ellenslea Road vehicles should not park on the zig-zags and the whole corner should have double yellow lines to make that danger spot safer for all too. I suspect that some of those parked there are using the station but do not want to pay the fee for the station car park.

COMMENT

Andrew Cartwright writes (Sep 2008)

Dear Sir, thank you for publishing Father Alex’s letter [Voice, issue 61, July 2008]. The Highways Authority (East Sussex County Council) is seriously underperforming. To quote from the Audit Commission’s report of Oct 2007: “… Improvements to the transport infrastructure are limited. Funding decisions have reduced standards and improvements to the network are slow. … The rate of deterioration of the road network exceeds the maintenance investment of the Council by £1 million per year. The Council estimates the current gap to be about £5 million had funding kept pace with inflation … Overall the transport system is not providing an effective network”. Indeed, many of the fairly routine works on the roads and pavements currently in progress in St Leonards are being paid for mainly by the Government as part of the regeneration of the local economy.

Hastings Borough Council acts only as agent to the local Highways Authority. Unfortunately, the Highways Department at the Borough Council has very limited resources and it is clear that they are understaffed. My belief is that most local residents would prefer our local roads and pavements to be managed by Hastings Borough Council. East Sussex County Council is too remote to be sensitive to public opinion. I have written to the Director of Environmental Services at the Borough Council urging him to raise the issue of the need for more staff in the Highways Department at both Borough and County levels. However, my understanding is that the County Council is reluctant to give further control or funding to the Borough.

At present I am working with several groups of local residents to improve our roads. Local residents and traders from the Bohemia Area Association are very active, and there are new groups of active residents in Tower Road West and Alexandra Road – both campaigning for better highways management. New groups are likely to be formed soon in Dane Road, Church Road and elsewhere. Please get in touch if you would like to be part of a campaign. Although it can take years to bring about real change it is well worth the effort of persevering. Ultimately, the whole community will benefit from improved road safety.

Andrew Cartwright, Labour Councillor, Gensing Ward.