Winchelsea residents’ plea to stop ‘rat-running by drivers’

They claim many drivers are travelling too fast through High Street.

Residents added that there have been several accidents in the area in recent weeks, with cars colliding into parked vehicles.

John Clarke, acting chairman of Winchelsea Residents Association, said: “For many years Winchelsea residents have feared the consequences of the massive amount of rat-running by drivers speeding through the residential centre of the town.

“There have been three crash incidents in recent weeks reflecting the constant danger to pedestrians and cyclists from the stream of vehicles travelling at excessive speeds, just for the purpose about a minute or less by turning off and then re-joining the A259 main trunk road.

“Progress is now being made with the support of Icklesham Parish Council, and as survey is about to begin to design an effective way of removing the current risk to injury and life, and also to property which includes an historic monument and many buildings.

“The current project will take time to implement and in the meantime we ask the drivers not to rat-run through the centre of the town, and when they are visiting to ensure that they respect the speed limits.”

An East Sussex County Council spokesman said: “We have limited resources for road safety measures, and with the considerable cost involved in implementing measures, we have to focus these on areas where the need is greatest.

“We take into account a number of factors when looking at areas that could benefit from road safety schemes, including crash data supplied by Sussex Police. This data, which relates to crashes involving personal injury, shows just one slight injury crash in the village in three years.

“As a result, the road would not meet our criteria for road safety measures.

“We appreciate the concerns that have been raised and have been working with Icklesham Parish Council previously to help them take forward locally funded measures within the village.

“We are happy to continue to work with them and local residents to look at options available.”