Resident concerned for elderly pedestrians in Hassocks after work starts on merging walkway and cycle path

Jean Barton, 73, of Parklands Road, said West Sussex County Council appointed contractors to upgrade pavements in Dale Avenue.

She said this involves continuing the cycle path from Keymer Road and incorporating it into the pavement that leads to Hassocks Health Centre on Windmill Avenue (Mid Sussex Health Care).

The County Council confirmed that a ‘shared use path’ is being installed ‘as part of a wider route between Downlands School in Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint’.

Jean, who works at Age Concern, believes this is dangerous, particularly for elderly and vulnerable pedestrians.

“People walking up to the health centre are going to have their back to the cyclists so they won’t be able to see them coming,” she told the Middy. “I can see terrible accidents happening.”

She believes elderly people would be most at risk, saying: “Some of them are deaf, a lot of them like me walk with two sticks and slowly.”

But the County Council said the scheme is designed to modern safety standards and will offer children a safer route to school.

Jean said she frequently visits Hassocks Health Centre so will be ‘in the firing line’ of cyclists. She said the path is the route to The Windmills Junior School and Downlands Community School and is crowded after 3pm on weekdays. She added that, ideally, she just wants an improved pavement and said cyclists should keep to riding in the road.

Hassocks Parish Council said they objected to the plan but were overruled by WSCC.

They submitted the following comments during the consultation: “Hassocks Parish Council Members were supportive of the principal of improving/establishing cycling/pedestrian routes, however concerns were raised over the current proposals for Dale Avenue and would not be supportive of the current scheme as it stands. Members expressed the view that WSCC had not fully appreciated the amount of pedestrians and cyclists using the village centre and Dale Avenue at peak times and concerns were expressed that the proposals would be dangerous, particularly where it was proposed the space was to be shared by both pedestrians and cyclists.”

A WSCC spokesperson said: “The path will provide a safer route to school for children, particularly those who may not feel confident riding on the road, and encourage the use of walking, wheeling and cycling for shorter trips, such as the school run.

“Public consultation took place on the scheme between 19/07/2021 and 15/08/2021 with 69 per cent of the respondents supporting the proposals. An Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken during 2022 in response to concerns raised regarding the potential for conflict between cyclists and vulnerable pedestrians. The assessment concluded that, outside of school pick up and drop off times, the path would be relatively lightly used and the start and finish times of group activities at Age Concern did not normally coincide with those of the school.

“We understand concerns that some people express about shared use paths, however there is insufficient space to provide segregated protected lanes and this scheme is being designed to modern safety standards. It is also only being delivered on the southern footway on Dale Avenue and does not impact the footway on the northern side, which will remain for pedestrians only.”