High Street, Seaford
Seaford is a small coastal town in the south-eastern corner of Lewes District, with the South Downs National Park to the west, north and east. It has a population of around 24,000 (2021 census). Seaford station is at the end of a short branch railway line from Lewes while the A259 major road runs through the town centre.
Seaford Community Partnership commissioned Transport Initiatives to carry out a Better Cycling Options Study for Seaford, as part of a suite of projects being developed by Ouse Valley Climate Action (OVCA). Enabling people in Seaford to choose to cycle more, especially shorter trips, would bring many benefits including improved public health. People who walk or cycle also spend more money in local shops.
Where Seaford’s visitors are coming from.
We reviewed transport in the area. This included mapping the locations of reported pedestrian and cyclist collisions and investigating travel patterns. Most collisions occur in the town centre with hotspots along the A259, while trips were local in nature and mostly short. Nowhere is more than 1.5miles from the town centre.
How safe is it to cycle Seaford’s Roads? The audit output is shown above. Green coloured roads are suitable for cycling by most people.
We undertook a Cycle Skills Network Audit (CSNA) to assess provision for cycling and crossings for pedestrians. While the vast majority of the roads in Seaford are suitable for cycling the busier roads create barriers to easy and safe cycling across the town. The Audit showed that for less experienced or less confident cyclists few journeys are achievable without some stress or inconvenience. In particular the town is divided by the A259 Brighton to Eastbourne Road.
The top 25 potential journeys mapped by the Propensity to Cycle Tool.
Potential for Cycling was assessed using the DfT’s Propensity to Cycle Tool (PCT). Applying the scenario for the Government’s target to double cycle trips nationally would see journeys to work trips rising to at least 3% with some areas seeing reaching 6%. On allocation these trips to routes it showed a strong demand for trips parallel to the coast but with at least one important route heading through the town centre and inland.
Open meeting at Seaford Baptist Church.
The PCT only considers journeys to work or school. The best way to find out about other trips and also perceived problems and barriers is to talk to people. An early survey produced information on trips people wanted to make and problems cyclists had. This, plus our own surveys, plus the PCT output led to a network of potential routes that we took back to local people at an open meeting.
Cycle parking at Seaford Station
Cycle Parking is an essential part of any cycle network. We audited all the public cycle parking spaces in the town finding 126 spaces; nearly a third of which were at the railway station. An assessment showed that locations and access were generally good but the condition was often poor; some parking stands had been driven into for instance and a salty atmosphere doesn’t help much for longevity either. We made proposals for improving 19 locations and new locations to increase the number of spaces to 304.
Priority Routes
Key recommendations;
- Set up a Seaford Active Travel Partnership
- Develop a route network starting with the area around Seaford Head School
- Install improved cycle parking at an early stage