News Letter No.10 Jan 2020

ChiCycle community ride raising awareness of traffic safety and held in commemoration of Gina McWilliam

Not strictly a Centurion Way event but we anticipate many local path users will wish to join the ChiCycle community ride raising awareness of traffic safety and in commemoration of Gina McWilliam. The A259 is supposed to be accompanied by a good quality cycle route and in a few places the provision for cycles is adequate. However the South Coast Cycle Route along the A259 has many safety issues and one of these sadly caused Gina McWilliam’s death in November 2019. ChiCycle and ChEmRoute are campaigning for a high quality and safe cycle route along the entire stretch of the A259 between Emsworth and Chichester. Sunday 19th Jan meet at the junction of Fishbourne Road West and Salthill Road from 1.45 pm for a minute’s silence at 2 pm and then a ride westwards down the ChEmRoute. It also marks ten years of ChiCycle.

Low standard section of proposed (Phase 2) Southern Access Road is planned to be included within Phase 1 of the White House Farm development but without first obtaining community agreement on a detailed Master Plan as required by DfT Guidelines

If you value the future of cycling and walking on the West of Chichester we recommend you urgently write to the local
authorities to oppose these plans!

The area to the top left, bordered by red, are plans that have been submitted for a section of roadway, sports-fields and pavilion. The roadways in red are from a previous development transport master-plan that failed to gain approval! We have merged and overlayed these two plans so you can see the road specification and route is identical on each plan where they
coincide.

West Sussex County Council Guidelines Recommend Stepped Cycle Tracks for all Large Residential Developments

New West Sussex County Council design guidelines (page 12) specify that housing development spine roads with over 500 dwellings should have pavements on either side of the road and include segregated cycle lanes, as shown in the diagram below.

FoCW also believe stepped cycle tracks are necessary, particularly considering where the new Southern Access Road might pass Bishop Luffa school it would be expected to carry;

• Cars, pedestrians and cyclists from the new 1600 house estate
• Bishop Luffa teachers and students arriving and leaving by bus, car, bicycle and on foot
• Virtually all pedestrian and cycle traffic between the city and the Tesco Supermarket
• Pedestrians and Cyclists commuting in and out of the city via the ChEmRoute south coast route.
• Pedestrians and Cyclists following Salterns Way towards Birdham.
• Cars and possibly cycles rat running between the Funtington road and the A27
• Families with prams and mobility scooter users.
• And last but not least everyone leaving or joining the southern end of Centurion Way

However the developers plan is to provide only a single pavement along one side of the Southern Access Road shared by all pedestrians, cyclists, prams, mobility scooters and student boarding and alighting from buses. An indication of what they propose is shown below.

The DfT Cycle Provision Guidlines 2008 describe a cycle route running along a housing estate spine road as a commuter route. In this situation DfT recommend cycle lane designs to allow 20MPH cycle speeds. This would be neither safe nor realistic when all non motor vehicle traffic is expected to share a single narrow pavement past Bishop Luffa School as the developers intend.

Existing designs for the White House Farm Southern Access Road also show the following problems:

• There will be a significant diversion for pedestrians and cyclists going between Chichester and Fishbourne requiring them to travel an additional 276 meters while negotiating an additional roundabout and toucan crossing.
• Where space is restricted approaching the Sherborne Rd mini-roundabout, the pavement carrying all non motor vehicle traffic will become incredibly narrow.
• Traffic modelling shows the Sherborne Rd mini-roundabout will be unable to safely carry the predicted volume of traffic.
• Developers and local authorities have refused to explain what will happen to Centurion Way but several plans have been seen where the southernmost end is removed!

We recommend you communicate any objections to.

• Ward Councillor, Mrs Clare Apel Address 123 Cedar Drive Chichester West Sussex PO19 3EL Electronic Mail capel@chichester.gov.uk Phone Number 01243 783738
• Ward Councillor, Mr John-Henry Bowden Heathlyn West Broyle Drive Chichester West Sussex PO19 3BP
  Mobile Phone 07504 846083 Electronic Mail jhbowden@chichester.gov.uk
• Planning Development Manager, Jo Bell Chichester District Council Ext: 34899 | Tel:01243534899 | jbell@chichester.gov.uk
• Steven Shaw County Highways (Development Management) Team Manager
  County Highways Team, Planning Services, West Sussex County Council, Ground Floor, Northleigh, County Hall,
  Chichester PO19 1RH, Phone: 0330 222 4674
  Email: steven.shaw@westsussex.gov.uk
• Ward Councillor and City Mayor, Richard Plowman113 Worcester Road Chichester PO19 5EE Tel No: 01243 787663
  R.Plowman@chichestercity.gov.uk

More details of these plans are being made available on the following link.

New Years Day event with Waggy Tails, Mince Pies, Dog Treats and Mulled Wine

On New Years Day 2020, the Friends of Centurion Way met on the path to enjoy mince pies, sausage rolls and mulled wine. This was a celebration of the start of a new decade. We hope for a future where local people can conveniently and easily walk or cycle between Chichester city centre and Centurion Way. Dogs of all shapes and sizes enjoyed the dog treats on offer and a couple of crafty canines snaffled mince pies and sausage rolls too.

The Chichester Post has now also run a story on our new years day event available here.

Contacting Friends of Centurion Way

To keep you up to date with what’s happening concerning Centurion Way our web site www.centurionway.org.uk is updated
regularly. Our next meeting is on Tuesday February the 11th at the Rainbow Inn Starting at 8:00pm. We’re on Facebook and you can E-mail us on friends@centurionsway.org.uk.
We would love to hear from you.

Mark Record (on behalf of the Friends of Centurion Way).