It’s almost a year since the SHLAT group had a high level meeting with West Sussex County Counci (WSCC) Highways Department and Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) Planning Department to discuss the SHLAT feasibility report on the Scaynes Hill to Lindfield cycle/walkway. At that meeting SHLAT were given two promises:
- WSCC promised to undertake their own Feasibily Study of the project towards the end of the 2024-25 financial year. This would be based on the SHLAT study done in 2023, with a view to including this route in the pipeline of projects to be taken forward.
- Sally Blomfield, MSDC Assistant Director Planning and Sustainable Economy, enthusiastically supported the idea of constructing the proposed footpath through the Walstead Park development as a wider path to enable bi-directional walking and cycling. This would then form an important part of the route between Scaynes Hill and Lindfield. She promised that MSDC would work with the developer to ensure that this work would be done as part of the current development.
WSCC have just published their report on the consultation carried out last year for their draft Active Travel Strategy. This report states that there were 30 individuals (out of 543 respondents to the consultation) who identified the Scaynes Hill – Lindfield route as one not mentioned in the strategy but which they would most like to see included. It was the third most mentioned route after Haywards Heath – Burgess Hill and a route along the coast. This confirmed the desire/need for the route and as a result the report includes an undertaking by WSCC to carry out their own feasibility study on the Scaynes Hill to Lindfield route in the year 2024-25 (ie by the end of March 2025). This is an important commitment that the SHLAT group will be monitoring closely. Our appeal in November 2023 to our supporters to respond to the WSCC consultation would appear to have had a significant effect, so a huge thank you to those who took the trouble to respond.
Shortly after the meeting last year Sally Blomfield left MSDC and it has taken some time to find her replacement. In the meantime MSDC has not fulfilled its commitment and has missed the opportunity to negotiate a financial solution with the developer, Vistry/Bovis. The MSDC Planning Department have indicated that there is no problem in amending planning consent for the upgraded path, while Vistry/Bovis have said they would be happy to make the make the changes but could not fund the increased cost of about £50,000. MSDC is now saying that this is a ‘Highways’ matter and therefore would have to be initiated by WSCC. Although WSCC already have S106 funds specifically allocated for such use they say this expense is not in this year’s budget so they cannot currently fund it. This is all very disappointing and frustrating but the SHLAT group are continuing to press WSCC to fund this path upgrade as part of the current development rather than come back later to do the work with far greater disruption and greater cost.