September 4th, 2023.

Lewes Lib Dems release:



Liberal Democrat councillors have cautiously welcomed proposals for a pedestrian crossing at the dangerous junction of the A259 and Bishopstone Road. However, they have warned about "another false dawn" for residents as the plans are currently unfunded.

The junction has long been the subject of concern for residents and local Lib Dem councillors James MacCleary and Carolyn Lambert have been pressing for improvements to be included in the ongoing Major Road Networks (MRN) study. They also took a motion to the Cabinet Member for Transport at the County Council calling for action a few months ago.

The plans also include a signalled crossing at the nearby junction of the A259 and Hill Rise.

Cllr Carolyn Lambert who represents Seaford South says: “Consideration of this proposal has been because of two Notices of Motion that we have put forward to East Sussex County Council as well as questions to the Lead Member.

"We still have a long way to go and have to be aware that the proposal is still very limited and falls well short of the footbridge or roundabouts options that we fed into the study.

"Things have been made a lot harder by Maria Caulfield MP's repeated claims that she has fixed the issue including promising traffic lights and a roundabout at the last County Council elections only for it to turn out there were never any plans in reality. We have been working for years on this issue and it is good to see that it is finally moving in the right direction.”

Cllr James MacCleary who represents Bishopstone says: "It is important that this doesn't become another false dawn for residents. The business case will not be put to government until 2025 at the earliest. There is as yet no indication of any timetable or any certainty that this will include the pedestrian crossing that we have been calling for.

"We will continue to put pressure on East Sussex County Council to provide a safe crossing now, not in the distant future when more lives will be put at risk.”