Lewes Living Streets group

We want to make walking and cycling easy and enjoyable by making roads safer, easier to cross, less noisy and less busy. We want to get people walking and cycling whenever possible, securing the health benefits of active exercise and reduced pollution from fewer cars. For us it is not just about reducing the number of accidents on our roads, it is about quality of life.

What we do:

• We campaigned for and secured 20 mph schemes throughout much of the town.
• We continue to campaign to get drivers to stick to the speed limits and report vehicles to the Police through Lewes Community Speed Watch).
• We support new pedestrian crossings at key sites (e.g. across Offham Road, with the first across from Prince Edwards Road planned to be installed by end of March 2018).
• We campaign against pavement parking and excessive pavement clutter such as “A” boards.
• In 2019 we commissioned John Dales of Urban Movement to look at how Lewes can be improved. See his report here.

We are also working with Cycle Lewes and local councillors to get East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to include walking and cycling improvements in and around Lewes town. This is both in response to Covid 19 and in the ESCC Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan. See our post-lockdown proposal here. None of these proposals have so far been taken up by East Sussex County Council. There was an attempt to widen the pavement on the High Street but this was not well designed and was rejected by the High Street traders who feared losing on-street parking.

We are therefore working with Cycle Lewes and Lewes Town Council (who have agreed funding) to survey shoppers and visitors and to place cameras to calculate the volume of through traffic. Together, we are also seeking funding to commission designs and reach agreement with everyone on the best means to achieve a low traffic people focused town centre. You can read our latest document which sets out our project with Cycle Lewes to make Lewes a low traffic town here.