It's time to close Bexhill promenade to cyclists

It is becoming obvious that social distancing measures will need to remain in place through the summer.

It is time for local councils to examine more clearly their approach to the use of their leisure facilities. Play areas in parks were shut early in the lockdown.

Many councils, including Rother, then closed car parks in some beauty spots in order to discourage travel to them.

Each weekday, my wife and I walk along the east promenade in Bexhill. I have noticed that over time, there are increasing numbers of pedestrians walking on the De La Warr Parade pavement, or on the grass verge between the road and the promenade. This is because pedestrians are unable to keep an appropriate social distance from the cyclists who ride up and down the promenade, often with headphones on, or watching their gps/speed measuring devices. Whilst not true of all cyclists, too many pass, at speed, pedestrians on the promenade well within the 2 metre distance. I have seen daily examples of this, and even observed a cyclist driving in his large car to the prom, parking, taking his cycle out of the car and within 30 seconds passing an elderly pedestrian within 1 metre.

I am firmly of the view that cycling on the promenade should be suspended until the end of the current crisis, or at least until dedicated cycling lanes are provided. Cycling on Bexhill Prom was prohibited until 2013. With the roads much quieter than normal (especially on the road by the promenade), I do not believe that cyclists will be unduly inconvenienced, and certainly not in comparison to the current daily inconvenience to pedestrians.

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