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Residents are being asked how they think Hastings’ £20m Government grant, ‘Plan for Neighbourhoods’, should be spent.
The obvious answer for a cycling sympathiser would be - safe networks for walking, cycling and bus lanes - except that a different source of funding is available for that. East Sussex County Council (ESCC) Transport Authority could and should, and eventually will, apply for Active Travel England (ATE) funds to build them.
Frustratingly, ESCC currently don’t have the right people or vision to do anything more than write active travel concept reports. To get a more capable administration we will have to make sure that the necessary reallocation of road space is a key issue in the upcoming elections for Sussex mayor and unitary councillors.
In the meantime, £20m must be wisely spent and HUB suggests it could be directed to improve local public realm to entice people out on foot and by bike.
Lovelier and more enjoyable streets are needed for a town to develop a 15-minute neighbourhood standard of living. Local shops tick along, but only just, if it’s presumed customers arrive to shop by car. But if the pavement outside a shop has benches, greenery, cycle parking and some play equipment - then it’s a destination - and shops’ revenue increases by 30-40%.
Kids would get exciting places to play and everyone would get a nice sociable public space a few minutes walk away - outside their shop, community centre, food bank or school.
The Plan for Neighbourhoods investment could disappear into buildings or events - or could be spent on the liveability and joyfulness of everyone’s immediate environment no matter which part of town they live in.
If you would like to influence how this £20m is spent, tell your MP:
https://www.helenadollimore.com/hastings-plan-for-neighbourhoods
And if you’d like to introduce some public realm and child-centric perspective where it’s missing, contribute to this too:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/20million
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