West Sussex County Council is proposing some changes that will make cycling safer for people – especially schoolchildren – travelling west along Middle Road in Shoreham. WSCC would like your feedback on this proposal (in addition to its larger proposal at the Upper Shoreham Road / Buckingham Road junction).
The plan is to modify two ‘chicane’ elements on Middle Road that currently squeeze bikes and motor vehicles through pinch points – by modifying the layout to enable westbound people on bikes to pass through safely, with a kind of ‘bypass’ layout.
This is a simple change that Shoreham-By-Cycle – alongside local councillors – has been requesting for many years. But we really don’t think this current plan goes far enough, for two reasons:
- While improving westbound safety, this proposal does nothing to improve eastbound safety – particularly relevant for children heading to Shoreham Academy in the morning. We would like to see further low-cost modifications to ensure both directions are considered.
- In a 2021 consultation, a host of other measures were offered for consideration, many of which received favourable responses from local residents. These were things like ‘raised table junctions’, widened pavements, continuous footways at side turnings, and the replacement of Middle Road’s notorious mini-roundabouts with T-junctions. Frustratingly, the mini-roundabouts were removed then exactly rebuilt in 2023’s drawn-out resurfacing project. What a missed opportunity for West Sussex County Council to have made improvements at the time.
We appreciate this is yet another consultation for the people of Adur. We know how frustrating it is to fill in constant surveys and questionnaires that rarely lead to any action, but the current process does rely on repeated consultation to preserve any hope of positive change.
So do take a look at the plans – as well as those for the other project being proposed at Upper Shoreham / Buckingham Road. Both projects share the same consultation.
SHOREHAM-BY-CYCLE 