New Update July 2023
After several years of campaigning we successfully achieved a safer tarmac route running over the bridge by Bishop Luffa Close.
Thank you WSCC for completing this community highways scheme on Centurion Way
Images of the newly completed tarmac overbridge are shown below:
Older Update July 2022
Today, 21st July, 2022 Chichester City Council enthusiastically decided to submit the Centurion Way Community Application – Highways Scheme to WSCC. Ian Sumnall will continue to collate the community responses and then pass to Cllr Julian Joy (West of Chichester Division).
This has to be all done and dusted by 28th July.
Please email isumnall@aol.com with your support for this scheme.
Original Post
A long standing safety issue with Centurion Way has been exacerbated by the recent creation of a blind cycleway cross road linking into a new recreational park. The Centurion Way tarmac pathway leaves the heritage rail route and descends steeply onto, and crosses the increasingly busy pathway linking Parklands with the new Platinum Jubilee Country Park and West of Chichester Development. This is a blind crossing for those using either pathway because the bridge brickwork obscures visibility.
Many collisions involving cyclists, pedestrians and other pathway users have occurred at this location. Perhaps the most serious (involving hospitalisation with life-changing injuries) was in 2016, following which an intensive but unsuccessful campaign was launched to tarmac the over-bridge. Furthermore, some disabled users of Centurion Way cannot negotiate the steep inclines, nor go safely over the bridge in its current poor state.
Ian Sumnall is leading a campaign to solve the safety issues at this bridge. He is organising a petition demanding the local authorities install a good quality tarmac surface over the bridge. This would alleviate the need for cyclists to ride over the the blind cycle-track crossroad where people exist unexpectedly from under the bridge into the paths of cyclists.
To include your name on this petition, please email Ian: isumnall@aol.com and include “CHS” (Community Highways Scheme) in the Subject line.
Include your name and address so Ian can evidence you are a genuinely concerned resident/path-user.
It will be helpful to include written details of near misses or collisions you have experienced where the paths cross at the mouth of the bridge.
Alternatively there is a printable paper form you can use to submit your details to Ian. This will allow him to include your name in the petition. The form is available here.
Your Personal information will only be used in support of this Application to WSCC following which it will be deleted. Protecting your privacy and complying with the UK GDPR
Ian Sumnall’s original email communication with FoCW about the petition is available below the horizontal line.
Tarmac the over-bridge
Community Application to WSCC Highways Scheme for vital safety works on Centurion Way
Campaign leader: Ian Sumnal – Chichester and District Cycle Forum (CDCF)
Location: The crossing of Centurion Way with the pathway to the Country Park, at the old railway bridge near Bishop Luffa Close, Chichester, West Sussex.
The Problem: The Centurion Way tarmac pathway leaves the heritage rail route and descends steeply onto, and crosses the increasingly busy pathway linking Parklands with the new Platinum Jubilee Country Park and West of Chichester Development. This is a blind crossing for those using either pathway because the bridge brickwork obscures visibility.
Furthermore, some disabled users of Centurion Way cannot negotiate the steep inclines, nor go safely over the bridge in its current poor state.
The owner with responsibility here is West Sussex County Council Highways.
History: Many collisions involving cyclists, pedestrians and other pathway users. Perhaps the most serious (involving hospitalisation with life-changing injuries) was in 2016, following which an intensive but unsuccessful campaign was launched to tarmac the over-bridge.
That ongoing campaign involved obtaining quotes from contractors working close by and also from WSCC Approved Contractors: £12,000 at that time.
Daily conflict and near misses with unacceptable public risk. An obstruction for vulnerable users. The crossing point of two already very busy active travel routes will become busier as the local population increases and we all become ever more aware of our needs for active travel to counter the crises of climate chaos, biodiversity collapse and public health.
What is needed for WSCC to adopt our Community Highways Scheme Application?
Answer: A thousand or more local Names and Addresses in support. It is understood WSCC need verification (by providing your address) that signatories are real people from the local area or who use Centurion Way or the new Platinum Country Park, and beyond.
Also: We need your experiences of collisions and near misses and observations at this black spot, please? The more the better.
Register and explain your support to Ian Sumnall … email: isumnall@aol.com
Subject “CHS” (Community Highways Scheme)
Your Personal information will only be used in support of this Application to WSCC following which it will be deleted. Protecting your privacy and complying with the UK GDPR