Calls to improve the safety of a busy rural road are set to go in front of a senior county councillor next week.
On Monday (October 14), Cllr Claire Dowling, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, is set to consider a petition calling on the local authority to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety in Keymer Road — a stretch of the B2216 linking Ditchling and Hassocks.
The petition, from the Ditchling Climate Action Network, calls on the council to both build a sheltered cycle and footpath alongside the road and to lower its speed limit, as an “interim measure”.
At time of publication, an online form of the petition (hosted on 38degrees.org.uk) has gathered 536 signatures. In it a spokesperson for the group said: “Despite the local secondary school, train station and shops being only a mile away, most Ditchling residents feel they have no choice but to drive the short distance to Hassocks because this short stretch of road feels unsafe to walk or cycle along.
“Some, such as children attending Downlands [Community School] or sixth form colleges in Brighton, have no choice but to use it.”
The spokesperson added: “Numbers using this road have increased significantly over the past few years and there has been a recent, devastating fatality as well as many near misses. Action is needed before there are any more.”
While the final decision rests with Cllr Dowling, officers say the suggested works do “not achieve the benchmark score to be taken forward at this time.”
In coming to this view, officers say the section of road does not meet the council’s policy requirements for a lower speed limit, noting how it has “little to no visible frontage development.”
Officers also say the road has an “excellent safety record”, pointing to crash data supplied by Sussex Police. This data, the report says, shows there have been no collisions on the road in the three years leading up to July 31 2024.
The police data does not include the fatal collision referenced in the petition. The petition does not specify a date for this incident, but contemporary news reports show a fatal collision occurred in Keymer Road in October 2021.
While the exact reason is unclear, the omission of the fatal collision appears to be the result of the area covered by the police data.
A map of the collision data, which is included in the report, only accounts for a section of the road between a car park operated by Ditchling Parish Council and the county border with West Sussex. The majority of this section of road is covered by the national speed, with short 30mph sections leading into the villages at both ends.
Officers are ultimately recommending that the petitioners be informed their requests would not be carried out by the council at this time.
In the report, a council spokesperson said: “It is recommended that the petitioners be advised that a reduction to the existing speed limit is not appropriate for the reasons set out in [the report].
“It is also recommended that the petitioners be advised that schemes to improve the existing footway, provide an alternative cycle route and install traffic calming measures have been assessed and are not currently priorities for the county council at this time.”
