Burgess Hill being strangled by new development

I must respond to the letter from councillor Colin Holden (Tackling our traffic problems, Middy letters 13/12) which is nothing more than a PR piece for Burgess Hill Town Council.

The councillor talks about Burgess Hill as if he has no idea what the town is like, or the needs of the people who live here and the thousands who will soon be joining us.

The new developments around the town are already strangling it. No amount of encouraging residents to walk, cycle or use the bus is going make any difference.

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The travel needs of the people can never be met on two feet, two wheels or a bus. The distances are too far for two feet. Roads too dangerous for two wheels – congestion and potholes etc and buses too infrequent and not sufficiently diverse in routes and destinations.

With the best will in the world, a town the size of Burgess Hill even in another five years will not sustain a widespread and frequent bus network. Look – they’re building bus stop lay-bys on the A2300 by Cuckfield Road, but how many buses serve the road, and where do they go from-to?

Many people like me, use a car for business making many diverse irregular journeys carrying tools, as do my employees. We have to shake, rattle and roll through potholed Burgess Hill, endlessly being caught up in jams on Leylands Road, Junction Road, Keymer Road/Station Road/Queen Elizabeth Avenue (Gateway to Burgess Hill – what a joke), and that’s when there are no temporary traffic lights for roadworks. (Try driving up and down Cants Lane Mr Holden)

None of the proposals for A2300 or the Northern Arc or anything else will make one iota of improvement to these roads.

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As a small business owner, I visit many of our customers in the area, and not one that I have spoken to expresses anything other than despair at the way our local councils and our elected representatives seem to be totally blind to the plight of the town.

Oh! And don’t get me started on the town centre development – if and when it ever actually gets started.

Air quality – It’s not going to improve as a result of any of the council’s plans – it will only get worse.

So please Mr Holden – On your bike!

Brian Morgan

Stirling Court Road,

Burgess Hill