Lewes to become 20mph speed zone (From The Argus)

Brilliant news as the traffic will soon be able to travel more quickly than at present!!
In reality ESCC's parking meter regime introduced a number of years ago and a 20 mph speed limit in Lewes Town centre will all but sound the death knell of its economic & retail activity.
Planners remain clueless as ever!

I'm wondering how they are going to manage to drastically increase the speed of the traffic through Lewes to get it UP to 20mph! Seems a tall order to me.
File under ecological toss.

Tailgaters Anonymous wrote:
Brilliant news as the traffic will soon be able to travel more quickly than at present!!
In reality ESCC's parking meter regime introduced a number of years ago and a 20 mph speed limit in Lewes Town centre will all but sound the death knell of its economic & retail activity.
Planners remain clueless as ever!

"The death knell for economic and retail activity" - a laughable comment. Made me chuckle!

Just how is this limit to be enforced?

Lewes are doing this for £5,000. In Brighton it is costing us £1.5m. This is 300 times the cost for the same thing.

Whether or not you agree with the Brighton scheme (I think ours goes far too far with too many major streets included) it looks like Brighton and Hove is set to pay many times over the odds. Yes, we have more streets to include but not 300 times

Are we being conned? Is someone getting paid far too much? Can someone explain?

Perhaps we could get the Lewes team to do for us? On this basis, I estimate we could save £1.2m. Enough to freeze council tax.....

So if a Green council does something like this the name of the party is repeated over and over and over again in the article and comments, but if a Conservative-Liberal council does the same nobody breathes a word of their political affiliation.

Biased? Who?

Any normal person would only drive around town at about 20mph anyway as it is the safest way to drive. Idiots who care nothing of the danger they pose to others are the only people who would oppose this measure.

Why not make the High Street a no-go area for private cars and eliminate the near-scrapes, selfish parking in bus stops etc and overall congestion to make the area a generally better place to be?

NickBtn wrote:
Lewes are doing this for £5,000. In Brighton it is costing us £1.5m. This is 300 times the cost for the same thing. Whether or not you agree with the Brighton scheme (I think ours goes far too far with too many major streets included) it looks like Brighton and Hove is set to pay many times over the odds. Yes, we have more streets to include but not 300 times Are we being conned? Is someone getting paid far too much? Can someone explain? Perhaps we could get the Lewes team to do for us? On this basis, I estimate we could save £1.2m. Enough to freeze council tax.....

Would that be the same Lewes, with a population of 16K and an area of 11 sq. km vs B&H with a population of 273k (17x bigger) and an area of 90 sq. km (8x bigger)? By the time you factor in the number of major roads that run within the B&H boundaries compared to Lewes and higher urbanisation rates I offer the view that its easy to see why your comparision is like comparing apples and pears.

leobrighton wrote:
Any normal person would only drive around town at about 20mph anyway as it is the safest way to drive. Idiots who care nothing of the danger they pose to others are the only people who would oppose this measure.

Hear Hear - absolutey right.

I think most people would support this, as it is being sensibly applied to roads in the town centre only. Such a shame BHCC can't come up with a sensible plan for Brighton, rather than a blanket 20mph zone including all major roads. Perhaps the reason nobody is bashing the Con-Libs is because they have thought it through properly!

straightasadye wrote:

leobrighton wrote:
Any normal person would only drive around town at about 20mph anyway as it is the safest way to drive. Idiots who care nothing of the danger they pose to others are the only people who would oppose this measure.

Hear Hear - absolutey right.

absoluteLy must be more careful with my spelling!

RickH wrote:

NickBtn wrote:
Lewes are doing this for £5,000. In Brighton it is costing us £1.5m. This is 300 times the cost for the same thing. Whether or not you agree with the Brighton scheme (I think ours goes far too far with too many major streets included) it looks like Brighton and Hove is set to pay many times over the odds. Yes, we have more streets to include but not 300 times Are we being conned? Is someone getting paid far too much? Can someone explain? Perhaps we could get the Lewes team to do for us? On this basis, I estimate we could save £1.2m. Enough to freeze council tax.....

Would that be the same Lewes, with a population of 16K and an area of 11 sq. km vs B&H with a population of 273k (17x bigger) and an area of 90 sq. km (8x bigger)? By the time you factor in the number of major roads that run within the B&H boundaries compared to Lewes and higher urbanisation rates I offer the view that its easy to see why your comparision is like comparing apples and pears.

Yes there are differences. But Brighton's plan is more blanket (unfortunately) so there should be less signs needed for a set area.

Worst case that you quote is 17 x bigger. So that still means that B+H is paying double what it needs to. The first phase is quite small - comparable with the Lewes scheme. Yet costs 500k for us, 5k for Lewes. Whatever way you look at it we seem to be paying far too much compared to our neighbours

It looks to me the difference in cost between the 2towns is that Lewes is only putting up a few signs,gently informing drivers of the new limit,Brighton (green,marxist)counc
il on the other hand will be ramming it down peoples throat by spending 1.5mill upwards on speed bumps and road "thinning"everywhere
.A perfect analogy of the different political persuasions...

Our pirates are ideological spendthrifts who regard running the council as a "lark".
What do they care about OUR money?
No one objects to 20mph limits where they are sensible...

NickBtn wrote:

RickH wrote:

NickBtn wrote: Lewes are doing this for £5,000. In Brighton it is costing us £1.5m. This is 300 times the cost for the same thing. Whether or not you agree with the Brighton scheme (I think ours goes far too far with too many major streets included) it looks like Brighton and Hove is set to pay many times over the odds. Yes, we have more streets to include but not 300 times Are we being conned? Is someone getting paid far too much? Can someone explain? Perhaps we could get the Lewes team to do for us? On this basis, I estimate we could save £1.2m. Enough to freeze council tax.....

Would that be the same Lewes, with a population of 16K and an area of 11 sq. km vs B&H with a population of 273k (17x bigger) and an area of 90 sq. km (8x bigger)? By the time you factor in the number of major roads that run within the B&H boundaries compared to Lewes and higher urbanisation rates I offer the view that its easy to see why your comparision is like comparing apples and pears.

Yes there are differences. But Brighton's plan is more blanket (unfortunately) so there should be less signs needed for a set area. Worst case that you quote is 17 x bigger. So that still means that B+H is paying double what it needs to. The first phase is quite small - comparable with the Lewes scheme. Yet costs 500k for us, 5k for Lewes. Whatever way you look at it we seem to be paying far too much compared to our neighbours

I'm afraid I disagree; mainly because you can't just look at costs alone and say "X is costing Y times more and so we must be being ripped off". Other factors not taken into account are (as I suggested) density of urbanisation; required frequency of such signs (no doubt driven by the various traffic/road statutes - my guess would be that B&H require way more signage density than Lewes ever would, esp as you change speed limits moving from residential to major trunk roads); B&H's unitary status (whereas I would guess Lewes can buy via E Sussex and achieve bulk savings); number of major roads in and through Brighton (lets face it, Lewes pretty much has far fewer & shorter stretches of roads in/out - two minor roads in/out and the A27 acting as a bypass which may not fall within their boundary); and any traffic calming measures (eg speed bumps in residential areas like in Poets Corner near to me). Bottom line, you are trying to compare the costs of similar projects in a relatively small rural town with a limited road linkages to a city with large urban sprawl and 6 major road links (A27, A270, A23, Dyke Road, St Georges Drive/Hangleton Rd and Sea-front/A259) - like I said, apples and pears. So my 'guesstimate' factor of 17x can easily become much larger than that if these various , and any other unknown, factors were taken into account.

366 out of some 16k is hardly significant indication of support.
Economic activity - having resided in Lewes postal area for well over 20 years can't recall when I last trod Lewes High Street as a result of the blanket parking restrictions and lack of available parking.
Wealden with free and ample parking has had my retail vote overwhelmingly.
Always helps to engage brain before jumping on a band wagon.

NickBtn wrote:
Lewes are doing this for £5,000. In Brighton it is costing us £1.5m. This is 300 times the cost for the same thing.

Whether or not you agree with the Brighton scheme (I think ours goes far too far with too many major streets included) it looks like Brighton and Hove is set to pay many times over the odds. Yes, we have more streets to include but not 300 times

Are we being conned? Is someone getting paid far too much? Can someone explain?

Perhaps we could get the Lewes team to do for us? On this basis, I estimate we could save £1.2m. Enough to freeze council tax.....

I expect the people of Lewes are being conned by this laughable under-estimate of costs. You don't get much for £5K these days. Perhaps it seems so much more expensive in Brighton simply because the estimate is more realistic?