If you’ve been following the on-and-off story this year, you’ll know about the confusion of whether we can cycle in safety west of Splash Point.The good news came when the date of the 28th August was announced. Passed by the Government and handed on to Worthing Council to paint out a few ‘No’s on ‘No Cycling’ and stencil some pretty cycles on the prom – OK, OK, I’m making light of a very serious and complex process involving thousands of highly trained people who have a heap of other things to do.

After a bit of research via Twitter earlier this week, it seemed that no one had seen any evidence of any of this kind of activity.

To cut a long story short, my Tweeting led to me being forwarded the following e-mail from Cllr John Rogers, Deputy Leader and Cycling Champion:

———- Forwarded message ———-

Unfortunately it is not going to be possible for us to officially open the promenade for cycling on the 28th.

This is for the following reasons :

1. Stevens Funfair is occupying part of the busiest section of the promenade therefore the risk of conflict between cyclists and pedestrians is much greater,

2. The DCLG in granting us permission imposed conditions, the main ones being that signage and some white lining must be installed before it can start.

This was discussed at the Worthing Cycle Forum on 5 August and it was decided by the meeting that the Council should be asked not to open on this bank holiday weekend but wait until a date can be found hopefully in September by when all the necessary works can be completed.

I am currently in contact with the Officers who are dealing with this matter and it is being given high priority. We are however, in the hands of contractors etc. as to when the work can be done.

Sorry to disappoint you – I am just as disappointed,

If you have any query please do not hesitate to call me,

Regards

Cllr John Rogers
Deputy Leader and Cycle Champion

Oh bloody hell! This is so typical of bureaucracies everywhere. Any chance to do nothing, and it gets hung on to for dear life.

I have to point out that Stevens Funfair only occupies a small part of the western prom and there’s the rest of it for us to use. Furthermore, the council was presumably aware of the funfair booking when the date of the 28th was generally announced.

And then there’s next year. How does the council propose to stop the impending carnage as cyclists crash headlong into the carousing crowds?

I also note that it has taken from 5th August until now for the council to fail to even fix a date for the signage to be installed. What hope do we really have of seeing any change during September so that we can cycle safely along the sea front?

I hope we don’t see any injuries – or worse – to cyclists while the council dithers and looks to convenient excuses for not getting their fingers out.

For years you haven’t been able to cycle on the wide promenade west of the town centre, but you can on the narrow promenade to the east. If there’s any logic here, I can’t see it.

The good news, as far as most people are concerned is that this Easter the ban was lifted. ONLY IT WASN”T.

This afternoon I was stopped on said promenade by two nice members of Her Majesty’s Constabulary, who informed me I was breaking the by-law that prevents people riding on the promenade.

According to them the restriction was never raised, and the widespread belief that you can now cycle on the wide promenade was all down to a councellor opening his mouth when he shouldn’t have and ‘the paper’ publishing wrong information. That’s why they were not issuing me with a fine.

They were very friendly and polite, but at what stage does the policy change and people cycling in the belief that they can have a fine slapped on them?

And more bad news, the policeman reckoned it would take ‘years’ before the by-law would be changed, if at all.

Why?