A259 Chichester to Emsworth cycle and walking route: Hundreds have their say on plans

More than 400 people have commented on the plans put forward by National Highways as part of an eight-week consultation over a six-mile long off-road route along the A259. 

The route, which is currently part of the National Cycle Network route 2, will link into the Centurion Way (former railway conversion) and other local routes on the Manhood peninsula towards Chichester.     

The improvement will also link several schools, and will enable more people to leave their cars at home and cycle or walk safely to work or school, helping to improve air quality in the area. 

National Highways project manager, Adrianna Chirovici, said: “We hope that over the last eight weeks we’ve shown the local community how this project is going to make a real difference in improving peoples’ ability to use more varied means of travel between Chichester and Emsworth.

“We have been greatly encouraged by the response to our engagement and I thank everyone who got involved; the feedback we received will play an important role in the evolution of our design. We were really pleased to hear that the overwhelming majority who participated found the webinars useful. Our attention will now turn to analysing what people have told us, so we can take it into account and continue to develop our proposals to maximise the benefits for everyone.”

National Highways said early feedback from the engagement revealed that people recognise the need for the new cycle route, with many commenting that they would feel much safer cycling on a regular basis if these plans go ahead.

The next stage of the project’s development will be to work through people’s comments in detail and use them to produce a final design.

Full details of the plans can be seen on the website at: https://yourvoice.westsussex.gov.uk/chichestertoemsworth.