20mph Speed Limit in Steyning

 For far too long transport policy has given priority to the motor car and now is the time to change and put people, young and old, car-users or not, and the environment first.  Hopefully, Steyning is about to take the first steps in doing so.

Steyning Parish Council are considering the possibility of introducing a 20mph speed limit throughout the whole of Steyning.  It would also include Castle Lane and Maudlin Lane which are in Bramber Parish.  The Council set up a working party to look into it and Mike and I are taking part.  Other members include Geoff Barnard of Greening Steyning, Steyning Parish Councillors, and representatives of Steyning Chamber of Trade, Steyning & District Community Partnership and our local West Sussex Councillor, David Barling. We have consulted WSCC on how to go about it and got a lot of helpful advice.  

The first step in the process is to provided evidence that there is support for the plan in the community and we have therefore developed a questionnaire to get local residents views.  This will be a printed leaflet which will be delivered to all houses in the affected areas.  Residents will also be able to respond on-line and the on-line version (only) will give them a chance to share their views on other matters relating to local travel and transport.  

Topics covered in this additional section will include further traffic calming measures, lowering the speed limit on the Steyning By-pass, encouraging walking and cycling, greater use of public transport and electric car charging facilities.  There are no plans to take any of these measures forward at the moment, but this will give us an idea of what people think and would like to see happen in the future so we decide on future priorities.  

Geoff Barnard and Ian Anderson have done a great job designing the questionaires and this will now go to Steyning and Bramber Parish Councils for approval.   If it gets the go-ahead it should be out in early March, so look out for it then and be sure to fill it in!

Selling the family silver?

(with acknowledgements to Harold Macmillan)

Those with an interest in such matters might find the latest HDC '2021/22 Budget and the Medium Term Financial Strategy to 2024/25' report of interest, especially section 9 'Potential decisions to close the budget gaps', which identifies three potential housing sites currently owned by the council: Rookwood, Broadbridge Heath running track, and the Drill Hall.

This is expanded on in Appendix H (Section 1.12) of the above report, where the Chief Finance Office opines that "Councillors either need to carry out the three development projects highlighted in the budget report or plan to make substantial cuts to customer facing services by the middle of the decade. These cuts are likely to include closing valued non-statutory services such as the Capitol theatre, Horsham Museum, community support services or nature reserves, or dramatically reducing the quality of Horsham District Council’s excellent statutory services such as Development Management and Environmental Health."

Of course, there is also the possibility (and pleasant thought) of a significant change of government in 2024 to one with an enhanced social conscience (not that difficult with respect to the current lot), but that would not be something that a chief financial officer would be expected to opine on!  So back to the family silver?