Road Safety versus Pretty Precincts

More on the plans by West Sussex County Council and Worthing Borough Council to divert funding away from 20mph speed limits in Worthing and towards nice new paving slabs in the pedestrianised Montague Street.

It seems that this is to show support for businesses (shops) in Worthing, but there are some cynics that think that changes in the rules about business rates have aroused the prospect of higher council income if they can sweet-talk businesses to move into Montague Street (although the rates are in fact most of the reason why small businesses can't afford to).

However from a transport point of view, this section from the WBC meeting minutes ("Use of Section 106 Public Realm Enhancement" - should read "Can we spend transport money to make Montague Street look nicer?") of 14 May 2013 is interesting:

The Council was informed that the estimated cost of works was upwards of £1m with £250k of funding committed by West Sussex County Council funded from an underspend in its Infrastructure Fund.

So we seem to have a spare quarter of a million pounds of infrastructure money, that WSCC has failed to spend. Why do they say they have no money to fund sustainable transport in Worthing then?

The report recommended that eligible s106 funding be made available to the County Council to replace the existing paving and improve the public realm in Montague Street and Warwick Street (depending on available funding).

Quite. This S106 money is gained to off-set the impact of new developments, and not to be used for maintaining existing streets with no practical impact on transport or any other public facility.

Some Members questioned the amount of money available and expressed concerns that the s106 funding would be better used for other schemes such as those around Lyons Farm, Portland Road or contributing towards consultation on the 20’s Plenty scheme.

I agree entirely. The biggest problem for Worthing, and Worthing shops in the town centre, is the traffic congestion and competition (with free parking) from the Lyons Farm superstores. Hardly anyone travels into Worthing town centre for their food shopping any more, and that directly impacts on other shop visits on the same trip into town.

The Leader of the Council stated that it was important for the Council to put something back into the Town Centre to show local traders that Worthing Borough Council supports them. He acknowledged that there wasn’t enough money to do everything but this scheme was a significant step in the right direction.

Doesn't the Council want to support all Worthing residents? The 20's Plenty scheme benefits everyone, including local shops, for less than half the money. 20's Plenty benefits the public purse very strongly, with a popularity rate and return-on-investment that should make politicians jump to implement it (as they are, except in West Sussex!).

Why does the Council need to spend public money on expensive schemes to benefit just private businesses? What evidence do the Council have that re-paving Montague street will benefit Worthing shops anyway - what is the return on the investment calculated to be?

It was noted that requests had been received from both the Worthing Town Centre Initiative and the Chamber of Commerce in regards to improving the paving along Montague Street.

Well, those organisations would say that, wouldn't they!

Have they forgotten about the thousands of requests from local residents for 20's Plenty to be implemented?

Members were dissatisfied with the paving in the Town Centre and observed it was well below the quality of that in both Chichester and Horsham. It was noted that Montague Street had been designed as a pedestrian precinct but regularly had vehicles passing along it which damaged the paving and therefore the new paving should be of a quality to withstand this usage.

Personally the quality of the paving isn't something that might stop me going into town to buy things. Worthing is still an excellent shopping centre, with a mix of large national chain shops and smaller local retailers. What does put me off is the danger from motor traffic everywhere, especially on the way into town!

Members requested that West Sussex County Council insist that utility companies reinstate the paving like for like following future works.

Surely they already insist on that? If the damage is done by utility companies, why are the repairs being paid for by the local tax-payer?

West Sussex Transport would be an awful lot better if WSCC spent transport infrastructure money on transport infrastructure, and not on pedestrian precinct re-vamps.

Worthing 20mph to be Abandoned?

On 4 September 2013, Worthing County Local Committee, the group of county councillors who now have decision-making power over transport projects in the borough, will meet.

They will most probably decide to spend nearly a million pounds on re-vamping Montague Street, in the process using up all the money previously allocated to implementing 20mph speed limits in the town and more.

If you have the ability to read Council reports, here are the recommendations from the horse's mouth: http://www2.westsussex.gov.uk/ds/clc/w/w040913i6a.pdf

20mph has Popular Support

Implementing 20mph limits on all residential streets is a popular move (typically 75% of people survey support lower speeds in their streets) and had already been prioritised by a unanimous vote of Worthing Borough Councillors. The scheme is backed by a strong local group as well as related groups such as Transition Town Worthing and the Worthing Revolutions cycle campaign. It's particularly important for Worthing, which has the highest numbers of deaths and serious injuries for pedestrians and cyclists of any West Sussex town.

The Montague Street scheme has no popular support, as the population are unaware of the project. However because it is apparently supported by West Sussex County Council, Worthing Borough Council, and the Town Centre Initiative (well, they would support it, wouldn't they!) this apparently trumps the need to ask local residents.

Cost/Benefit Analysis

Implementing 20mph limits conforming to current national government guidelines would cost around £400,000. The benefits of doing this are proven in Portsmouth, Brighton, parts of London, as well as most towns and cities in continental Europe. This is nothing new, it has many benefits, and costs relatively little. Schemes like this typically pay for themselves in reduced congestion and reduced health and emergency services costs within a year or two. Making it easier for local residents to get to the shops in Worthing without needing to drive will result in more local shopping and less congestion. Even the car parks will be less packed, allowing more people to visit from out of town, and helping to push parking charges down as demand drops.

The Worthing CLC now plan to spend more than double that amount, £1,000,000 in total, on refurbishing Montague Street. No doubt Montague street will look nicer with a re-vamp, but this will do nothing to improve safety on Worthing's streets. Nor will it make it any easier or more pleasant for Worthing residents and visitors to reach the shops in Montague Street: the surrounding roads will still be dominated by fast-moving and dangerous motor traffic. It is not clear what benefits this scheme will bring, or even whether it will result in any more people shopping in Worthing than currently. It certainly won't make any difference to local transport congestion, nor road safety. It is a shopping initiative, not a transport one.

Queue Jumping the Process

This Montague Street plan has apparently queue-jumped the new planning process. It should have been added to the local Community Issues List, and then councillors should have discussed the relative priorities of all the schemes on the list with experts and with Worthing residents and visitors. Then, and only if the scheme was judged to be one of the top priorities, would the scheme be allocated funding and started.

Instead we have a scheme that no-one has yet seen any details of, that has not been publicised at all, and that hasn't even been listed on the Community Issues List. Yet councillors are talking as if the money has been allocated to it, and that it will be given the go-ahead. Worse still, the 20mph scheme which has followed the correct process, and which has strong community support, is being thrown out to make way for it.

Are the CLC breaking their own procedures to rush this scheme through, and, if so, why?

Is this democracy and localism in action?

Illogical Plans - designed to be thrown out?

West Sussex County Council have spent considerable sums on carrying out traffic speed surveys on some of Worthing's streets.

Here is the map of "Option 1" where all roads, other than A, B, and local distributor roads, are changed to have a 20mph speed limit (click to enlarge):

This is by far the simplest option, and the most cost effective. Drivers will soon become used to driving slower on all Worthing streets, other than the more major roads.

Here is the recommended "Option 2" map, showing the areas with 20mph limits and the few small areas where 30mph will remain the speed limit (click to enlarge):

Can you spot the differences?

How does this make any more sense than just making all residential roads in the Borough 20mph? It will need more signs, to indicate where 30mph is the limit, and it will confuse drivers who suddenly find themselves on a 30mph street in an otherwise-20mph town.

Perhaps the plans are deliberately daft, so the CLC councillors can say that they are daft, and thus can throw the whole idea out?

If you are concerned about road safety in Worthing, or would like more pleasant streets where you live or work or shop, or just think that planning processes should be followed properly, please come along to the CLC meeting on 4 September 2013 at the Heene Centre.

Worthing 20's Plenty: main roads slower than residential streets!

Since Worthing Borough Council voted unanimously some time ago to implement "20's Plenty" area-wide 20mph speed limits on Worthing streets, West Sussex County Council have been measuring existing speeds on Worthing roads.

This is important, not only because it will be useful to compare Before and After results, but also because WSCC have this odd rule that they will only lower the speed limit if a lower speed limit isn't really needed.

Anyway the results are in, and the silly thing is:

• WSCC will not recommend 20's Plenty on residential streets because average traffic speeds are too fast [Eh? That's why we need lower speed limits! - Ed.]
• WSCC will not recommend 20mph limits on A and B roads in the borough, because they're major roads, but these roads have slower average speeds so they pass the 20mph test!

West Sussex County Council need to remember that the reason we suffer from daily traffic jams is not because the speed limits are too low, it's because too many people choose to travel by car for short local trips.

West Sussex Transport would be a lot better if WSCC invested in 20mph limits for our towns. More people would then walk and cycle, leaving the roads much freer for the people who really need to use cars.

Inverse Logic for setting Speed Limits

West Sussex County Council uses a rule to decide whether 20mph speed limits, popular with around 75% of the population according to almost every survey taken, should be implemented.

The rule is:

The urban speed limit can only be reduced to 20mph if the average speed recorded on most roads is already less that 24mph.

This means that WSCC will only agree to install 20mph speed limits if the majority of motorists already drive slowly. Which means the effect of lowering the speed limit can only be small, and it will only happen if there isn't an existing problem with speeding.

On residential roads where speeding is a problem, WSCC will refuse to make any changes to lower speed limits, because drivers are driving too fast! So roads where lower speed limits would have the biggest impact are excluded from becoming safer.

So we seem stuck in a Highways planning system where motorists, and not local people, decide how fast motorists should be allowed to drive. If the residents of a street decide that they want a 20mph limit to make their street safer, quieter, and generally more pleasant to live in, all motorists have to do is speed down that street a lot, and the 20mph limit will not be introduced.

This nonsense is probably because politicians don't want to be seen to upset "the poor beleaguered motorist" who appears so often in our newspapers. Possibly also because for some odd reason the Police don't like 20mph limits as an idea, even though they would surely benefit greatly from fewer road traffic incidents on our urban streets.

West Sussex Highways and Transport would be a whole lot more popular with West Sussex residents if they realised that this rule is absurd, and if they listened to residents as well as motorists when setting speed limits.