Active Travel Fund projects

1 About active travel

Active travel is using physically active means for your everyday journeys, such as walking or scooting to school and cycling to shops. Advantages to active travel include increased fitness, cheaper journeys and environmental benefits.

Improving active travel in West Sussex

We have secured £2.35 million in funding from phase 2 of the Department for Transport's Active Travel Fund (ATF). We are using this to deliver on our priority to improve active travel choices with permanent walking and cycling improvements across the county.

The schemes we're developing are not just about improving safety - they will also be designed to make our local areas better, healthier and greener places for people to be.

An essential part of the process is to properly consult with residents, businesses and other interested parties about the plans. These are being delivered in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years, except Shoreham, which will be subject to a future bid for funding.

Our aims

Our active travel improvements aim to:

make walking and cycling to work, education and leisure activities more attractive
improve health and wellbeing by offering eco-friendly travel choices
broaden travel choices by offering safe, quick and easy walking and cycling options, particularly for short journeys
support zero emission journeys and reduce reliance on car travel.

2 Our proposals

Shoreham-by-Sea

Any improvements should support journeys to and from school, commuting and shopping trips, as laid out in Adur and Worthing Councils' Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP).

Between 8-26 March 2021, the County Council undertook an initial public engagement exercise. Feedback we received informed the development of the proposals.

The County Council developed these ideas and consulted customers and stakeholders during July 2021 about the following potential schemes:

Upper Shoreham Road

Options for segregated cycleways.
Improved crossing points.

We also sought views on potential schemes to be developed as follows:

Eastern Avenue and Middle Road

Low speed zones.
Provision of a mixed traffic environment.
Traffic management measures.
Reallocation of highway spaces (including verges) - widening some areas (for example, footpaths) and narrowing others (such as roads or verges).

There were more than 1,600 responses to the consultation. You can view the full report, along with the County Council’s response, on the Shoreham-by-Sea engagement page. Following local elections in 2022, discussions took place with local stakeholders to determine the next steps for this scheme.

Active Travel England have indicated that they would not be able to fund a significant proportion of this high value project. We are therefore proposing to take forwarded a programme of smaller scale improvements such as:

repairs to and micro-asphalt surfacing of Middle Road and Rectory Lane (commencing August 2023)
an improved crossing point at Upper Shoreham Road junction with Buckingham Road
improvements for cycling and traffic movement on Middle Road
other potential crossing point improvements on Upper Shoreham Road.

This page will be updated as the project progresses.

A283, near the junction with Upper Shoreham Road

Permanent signalised crossing improvement to connect the Downs Link with St Nicholas Lane. The crossing was subject to a separate consultation exercise that took place between 19 July and 15 August 2021 (see below).

The A259 from Shoreham towards Brighton has also been identified within the LCWIP as being a priority cycling route, but falls outside of the focus of the ATF. We are, however, working with Brighton & Hove City Council towards a segregated cycle facility along the south side of the road to connect Adur Ferry Bridge with Brighton and Hove. This is a longer-term project subject to:

release of land from redevelopment sites
scheme prioritisation
securing funding
development of designs
consultation with the community.

A24 Findon Valley to Findon Village

The A24 is an identified priority in the West Sussex Walking and Cycling Strategy 2016/26. This scheme provides a new off-carriageway shared cycle and footway alongside the A24, connecting the South Downs National Park gateway of Findon Village with Findon Valley. The existing cycle network provides onward connection to Worthing.

The A24 Findon Valley to Findon Village proposals were the subject of a public engagement exercise between 19 July and 15 August 2021. We received 685 responses - including online questionnaires, emails and letters.

A meeting of local MPs, West Sussex County Councillors, Arun District Councillors and Worthing Borough Councillors was held on 16 November 2021 to discuss the A24. They agreed that the southern section of the route within Cissbury Division should be diverted away from the A24 and continue on-carriageway via May Tree Avenue and Lime Tree Avenue.

You can view a detailed report and the revised proposals on the A24 Findon Valley engagement page. Following a decision by the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport the revised scheme was officially opened on 16 February 2023.

'School gate' travel improvement programme, including Bikeability training

These proposed improvements will help to reduce reliance on cars, protect school bus travel and promote active travel. These include the following:

A new Toucan crossing on the A283 in Shoreham to support active travel journeys to and from Sir Robert Woodard Academy (see our Shoreham-by-Sea proposals above). Construction commenced on 27 September 2022 and was completed on 23 November 2022.
Upgrading the signalised crossing on B2116 Keymer Road, Hassocks to a Toucan crossing and providing a shared cycleway footway on Dale Avenue to support active travel to Downlands School. Construction is expected to commence in summer 2023. This improvement forms part of a new cycle route between Hurstpierpoint and Hassocks. Other sections of the route are currently under construction or being designed.
Safety training for students who missed out on training during lockdowns via Bikeability courses.
Targeted one-to-one training for adults wanting to improve their cycling confidence.

A new signalised crossing adjacent to The Gatwick School, Gatwick Road, Crawley no longer forms part of our Active Travel Fund Programme. The improvement was completed as planned on 8 September 2022 and was funded through a Section 106 legal agreement.

Active Travel Improvements Programme

These proposed small-scale infrastructure improvements will support active travel choices for a range of journeys:

A contraflow cycling scheme in Cross Street, Worthing. Currently being designed.
A contraflow cycling scheme in River Road, Littlehampton. Construction commenced on 17 April 2023 and was completed in early May. The scheme has enabled National Cycle Route 2 to be re-routed along River Road and has been supported by new wayfinding signage.
A new Toucan crossing on the A259 between Bognor Regis and Chichester in place of the existing pedestrian refuge southeast of Drayton Lane. Construction of the Toucan crossing commenced on 3 October and was completed on 6 January 2023. The bus laybys at this location were also improved and Real Time Passenger Information screens installed. We are currently investigating the scope to widen the shared cycleway footway between the new crossing facility and Abelands House.

The School Gate and the Active Travel Improvements programme proposals were the subject of a public engagement exercise between 19 July and 15 August 2021. You can view a detailed report on the School Gates and Active Travel Programme engagement page.

Supporting documents

Active Travel Fund consultation plan (PDF, 267KB)

3 Capability Fund Programme

In December 2021 we secured £159,000 from the Department for Transport’s (DfT) new Capability Fund. This will enable us to develop concept designs for three active travel schemes and undertake some initial engagement. Should this work indicate that schemes are feasible and supported, then our intention is to bid for additional Active Travel Fund monies from the DfT to progress the schemes to detailed design and construction.

There are currently 46 schemes that feature in Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans (LCWIPs) in West Sussex and, as such, are potentially eligible for inclusion in Active Travel Fund bids. Following a prioritisation process we are developing concept designs for LCWIP schemes in Chichester, Crawley and Horsham.

Chichester

Description: Improved walking and cycling facilities in Fishbourne Road East and Westgate to complement improvements being delivered by the Whitehouse Farm developer.

Current status: Concept designs have been developed and were the subject of a public engagement between 27 June and 7 August 2023. Engagement report currently being drafted.

Horsham

Description: Walking and cycling improvements to improve safety in the vicinity of The Forest School. These include reconfiguring the Bennetts Road/Comptons Lane junction to encourage cyclists to use Comptons Lane service road rather than the main road. New parallel crossings (with separate areas for pedestrians and cyclists) and a new segregated cycle track linking the school entrance with the Comptons Lane service road.

Current status: Initial engagement complete. Engagement report published on the Highways, Transport and Planning Engagement Hub.

Crawley

Description: Stepped cycle tracks in Northgate Avenue and new and upgraded crossing facilities, widening the existing off-road cycle track between Northgate Avenue and Woodfield Road. A new parallel crossing on Woodfield Road, a two-way cycle track in Woolborough Lane, improving the existing off-road track between Woolborough Lane and Manor Royal and a new parallel crossing in Manor Royal.