Subject: FW: Hastings and the South Coast Multi Modal Study (SoCoMMS) > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Page > Sent: 24 October 2002 13:51 > To: 'nigelh-b@surreyeconomicpartnership.org' > Cc: 'n.skellett@surreycc.gov.uk'; 'keith.house@eastleigh.gov.uk'; 'l.silverman@reading.ac.uk'; 'jeremy.leggett@srcc.org.uk'; 'mary.ballin@bracknell-forest.gov.uk'; 'sandy.bruce-lockhart@kent.gov.uk'; 'gordon@gckeymer.freeserve.co.uk'; 'david.kirk@hants.gov.uk'; 'rory.love@shepwaydc.gov.uk'; 'dshakespeare@buckscc.gov.uk'; 'derjen@btconnect.com'; 'don.turner@brighton-hove.gov.uk'; 'jan.morgan@southoxon.gov.uk'; 'cllrrosie.sharpley@woking.gov.uk'; 'mickstevens@maidstone.gov.uk'; 'cec.tallack@milton-keynes.gov.uk'; 'd.brooks-wilson@ic.ac.uk'; 'debgardiner@hotmail.com'; 'frankstroud@thamesvalleychamber.co.uk'; 'm.thrower@nbcol.ac.uk'; 'chris.corrigan@rspb.org.uk'; 'kdufton@ecs-vol.org'; 'ccpmedway@aol.com'; 'mchater-gov-ra@beeb.net'; 'Cc:' > Subject: Hastings and the South Coast Multi Modal Study (SoCoMMS) > > Dear Mr Horton-Baker, > > HASTINGS AND ST. LEONARDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY > > I understand that the SEERA Executive Committee will be considering their recommendations on the conclusions of the SoCoMMS Report to the full SEERA Assembly at their meeting tomorrow. I am writing to you on behalf of the Hastings and St Leonards Chamber of Commerce and Industry which represents the views of industry in Hastings. > > While we are very supportive of many of the recommendations made in the Report, for example the twice an hour South Coast Express service from Southampton to Ashford, the proposed Link road between Bexhill and Hastings and the very necessary improvement programme down the whole length of the A21, we are concerned about a number of omissions and proposals for inadequate measures. Omitted is any firm recommendation for a direct link between the Bexhill Hastings Link Road and the A21. Without that direct link a serious bottleneck will be created. Equally the proposed minor improvements to the A259 to the East of Hastings, the road which connects us to our Continental European markets both for visitors to our Tourist industry and for goods from our factories. Manufacturing and Tourism, vital parts of the Hastings economy, are being strangled at the moment by our poor roads and non existent rail freight facilities. Some 500 Heavy Goods Vehicles use the A259 East each day and in many places they have difficulty passing safely the Tourist Coaches coming in the opposite direction. As the M25 becomes more congested more trucks and Coaches from Eastbourne and Brighton to and from the Tunnel use this road each day. > > We are also very concerned that our University Centre, the jewel in the Crown of the Hastings and Rother Task Force, will not be able to attract the very necessary students from anywhere further than bus journey distance from its Campus in the town Centre.without adequate physical transport links.The previous consultation draft of the SoCoMMS report accepted that four trains per hour running east/west across Hastings and Bexhill were needed. This repeated the previous view of the Access to Hastings Study. The final SoCoMMS report suggests only three stopping trains (which is actually the number now) and two expresses. This may seem a small matter but it is fundamental if the aim is to get travellers out of cars and on to trains. Four per hour means a > '> turn up and go> '> system; three means you have to check timetables and are much more likely to stick with the car. > > Our four trains an hour > '> metro> '> idea has been taken up by the Hastings and Rother Task Force precisely because of the decision not to build the east/west by-pass. But more than that in July the Deputy Prime Minister announced that Hastings would be one of the three new millennium communities based around 1,000 new homes constructed on a > '> string of pearls> '> - sites that are strung out along the east/west rail line, around existing and potential new stations. > > SoCoMMS recognises the need for those new stations for which we are grateful, but does not recognise the need for a sufficiently frequent stopping service at each of them to allow these millennium community developments to enjoy sustainable transport options. > > Millennium communities are meant to be examples of sustainability in building methods, lifestyles and transport. The ODPM recognises that - hence Hastings recent designation, but this idea seems to be a closed book to the SoCoMMS> '> consultants. We believe they have been pressurised by the narrow remit and approval of the Strategic Rail Authority. I do hope SEERA will start from the transport requirements of our regeneration package and use that as a lever to convince the SRA of the potential this could bring. > > We feel that the narrowly focussed approach of the SRA can also be seen in the SoCoMMS report> '> s failure to support the reinstatement of the Willingdon Chord. Even though it accepts in paragraph 6.30 that > "> this is in contrast to the Hastings Five Point Plan for regeneration which considers this scheme to be critical to delivering improved journey times to Brighton.> "> This remit ignores the fact that transport is only a means to an end and ignores the contribution of transport improvements to regeneration. > > When our area is so poorly served by transport connections in all directions, then a quarter hour (25%) reduction in journey time to Brighton or Gatwick offers huge regeneration benefits. > > We have to ask the SoCoMMS consultants, and now each Assembly member, what should come first - the need to revitalise the most deprived part of a quite prosperous region or the much narrower transport priorities of the SRA. Businesses seeking to play their part in the regeneration of Hastings and Bexhill by growing in such a way that they may employ more people and pay higher wages to their existing staff have no doubts about their answer to that question > > I do hope you will feel inclined to support our concerns and to advise the Assembly to include support for the reinstatement of the Willingdon Chord and support for a > '> metro> '> concept with at least four trains per hour stopping at each station (existing and new) together with the necessary significant improvements to existing roads be included in the advice to ministers. > > Yours sincerely, > > John Page, > > > Chief Executive, Hastings and St. Leonards Chamber of Commerce and Industry > > > > > ************************************************** Fed up spending hours completing export documents? Sussex Enterprise offers fast and reliable assistance with export documentation to make trading overseas as easy and successful as possible. 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