We’re all set to welcome Carmageddon in Wealden!

We all know, the disappointment Wealden DC have had, with their rejected plans for new housing. However that is not to excuse, especially around Hailsham and Polegate, the fact that there has never been a serious attempt to support ‘active travel’.

That would include faster bus routes and direct ‘traffic-free’ routes for cycling and walking, as part of a spine that could connect housing estates to the Cuckoo Trail.

Over the years, I have commented on many planning applications so I am aware that East Sussex County Council, have for the last 10 years been saying both that congestion will be much worse and that there is little scope for new main roads. So for the new housing developments, it is now noticeable that ESCC appear to just accept there is little they can do.

There are not even any shared paths from these estates to the rest of town.

Wealden as part of the planning process could have done so much more and demanded that active travel was a requirement of design with a series of routes inter-connected, running round the edges of these developments.

However what we increasingly have, is a number of developments of poorly built houses with low insulation and with meandering narrow roads, connected to a busy arterial road, built for and usable only by cars.

Meanwhile we head for the inevitable Carmageddon.