Wider thinking needed in Bexhill

From: Dave Walsh, Rotherfield Avenue, Bexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill town centre  Western Road SUS-201106-125216001Bexhill town centre  Western Road SUS-201106-125216001
Bexhill town centre Western Road SUS-201106-125216001

The Bexhill Observer front page (“Charges plan for free car parks 4/9/20) make an excellent companion piece for a classic headline of nearly twenty years ago ie “We will fight to the death to preserve the Status Quo!”.

It was about (guess what!) car parking charges and seemed to sum the whole town up back then, although I wasn’t so critical.

Bexhill is a real gem.

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I was unhappy about more recent measures though, mentioning bays appearing “like a thief in the night” and “cash cow projects”.

Don’t say you weren’t warned!

The Observer reports that “Seven of the eight car parks are in Bexhill”. A coincidence? Rother has failed to stop a town with 44,000 inhabitants from taking back it’s own governance.

Is there a connection? Surely not.

Barbara Echlin (Why did Bexhill Business Object?-same edition) was right to insist that there may be ways to resolve overcrowding in Western Road by careful experiment, without simply grabbing at monies to rip up pavements etc.

We all know how long and disruptive a process that could well become.

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A simple, short term, Western Road experiment would be to try a one way pavement system for pedestrians and others. It should be possible to tackle stop another major overcrowding factor ie all the through traffic that creates an involuntary (east to west) “rat run’.

Perhaps this could be done by diversion or even reversing the flow? Try it for a day and see.

Lets hope the new Bexhill Town Council will be able to apply some more lateral thinking that can bring a fresh approach?

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