HIRA Report for July 2004
- Mon 21st Jun 2004
<%image(20040622-hiralogonew_s.jpg|76|100|)%> Will you be Safe from Flooding?
Drop Ride Cycle Route Report
Cycling on the A27 Planning
Havant Plan
Regional Government
Casino on HaylingHIRA report for July 2004.
Will you be Safe from Flooding? – Come and Find Out!
Our next Open Meeting at the URC Hall in Mengham, staring at 7.30 on Thursday, July 15th, will review the current situation on the various flood prevention schemes for the Island and the latest timescale for their implementation.
The meeting will be addressed by staff from HBC and the Environment Agency. Those Islanders who have been following the developments in this area will know that this programme has been running for at least ten years and has only now reached the stage at which some work is commencing. This work is largely independent of the sea defence work that has taken place over the years at Eastoke but is clearly of equal interest to those who might be affected by high sea levels and storm surges.
Pleas come and find out what is happening.
Drop Ride
This has now been running for some time and the experience should allay most of the concerns of Islanders who were worried about noise.
I visited the ride, though did not experience the thrill of dropping myself, on a day recently when it was in fairly continuous use.
The ride is effectively completely silent and, on four drops, only one person screamed.
On adjacent rides, which themselves are quite noisy, there were continual episodes of screaming and in comparison the drop ride produces no disturbance at all.
Obviously some will find the appearance obtrusive, but others will undoubtedly feel it adds to the Hayling skyline.
Cycle Route Report
Over recent months there has been much discussion about the completion of the Havant - Hayling cycle route and whether a separate bridge should be provided to make access to the Island pleasanter and safer. Obviously the cost of a bridge is significant but only a fraction of the costs being bandied around by those who feel it is not needed.
The current situation is bedevilled by the estimates of usage based on either extrapolation of the current demand, on the assumption that considerable numbers of people will change from motoring to cycling.
It seems to us that neither of these approaches is sensible: many people are currently inhibited from cycling because crossing the bridge at present is a daunting and relatively unpleasant and dangerous experience and that the primary use is recreational and not as a means of getting on and off the Island for commuting, neither business or educational.
Be that as it may, the report claims that on neither projection of demand is a bridge justified. However, to meet its claims that the current bridge is adequate it requires both current footpaths be committed to two-way cycling and pedestrian use.
It makes certain safety assumptions based on the current two metre width, but fails to point out that these assumptions are for route with a 0.5m verge on both sides to separate users from any other traffic. This is clearly not the case for the present bridge.
It also continues to propose three crossing points of the Havant Road: at the bottom of the Havant section of the trail, at the Ship and at the Texaco Garage. Consultation has indicated that there are too many of these.
It also continues to ignore the route close to the Langstone Sailing Club, opting instead for further widening of the footpath, when the club states that Hampshire already owns the necessary land.
Further, it continues to propose access to the route by cyclists approaching the two ends at right angles to the, relatively narrow, roadside paths, when a small error or presentation of an unexpected obstacle could precipitate the rider directly into the other traffic.
The proposed crossing at the Texaco garage is a real pig’s ear. To allow for horses to cross from Northney to the Hayling portion of the Billy Trail, Atkins have devised a scheme whereby the cyclist crosses the horse route and then each crosses the Havant road at separate points only a few yards apart. Further, they are proposing to change the kerb-line yet again and make it much more difficult for heavy vehicles to turn towards Northney to service the boating facilities there.
All these, less than perfect, solutions will only cost £440K, already at least 50% of the cost of a new Bridge.
For HEAVENS SAKE Hampshire, do not continue to waste vast sums of money on consultancy programmes which only half solve problems that are amenable to far better outcomes at not significantly greater cost.
Cycling on the A27
While the recent death of another cyclist on the A27 near Broadmarsh is not specifically a Hayling issue, it highlights the fact that we cannot even solve a simple problem of getting cyclist off our more dangerous routes in the area.
I understand that the cycle route to Portsmouth has not yet been proceeded with partly because of arguments about a miniscule strip of land between the A27 and the Farlingtom Marshes, without which the wildlife of Langstone Harbour cannot survive.
Isn’t it time for Human Life to be put before the interests of statistically insignificant numbers of other species whose natural annual variations far exceed any impact on their existence as a result of the loss of a few feet beside a motorway embankment?
The fact that the person killed was on a charity ride and presumably unfamiliar with the hazards of the A 27 should only emphasise the urgency of achieving a solution to that problem.
The same specious argument has also delayed implementation of our flood defences for so many years. We keep being told such problems are due to global warming: let’s hope we do not get the 200 year flood before the work is completed.
Planning
Plans are afoot to develop land between the Barley Mow and the Ham Field site. We are monitoring the proposals.
Hayling Trailers, situated near the Texaco garage, are proposing to move to more appropriate premises (in Havant?) and are applying for permission to develop the current site for housing. This is ‘in accordance with the suggestions of the ‘Vision for Havant’ document’ discussed earlier this year, i.e. ‘housing near or overlooking water’. Thus one can see the impact of this report even though it has no official status.
HIRA are objecting to this as being quite inappropriate and a precedent that would inevitably lead to considerable follow-on development in the area.
Havant Plan
By the time this column is published, the Havant Plan will have been released. Again we are told that significant further development on the Island will be very limited, as the transport and other elements of the infra-structure would no longer be able to cope.
Regional Government
This saga rolls on and the new European constitution possibly makes such a change of Government structure more imminent.
It seems that the only likely benefit to Hayling would be that we would report to an organisation based in Guildford, rather than one in Winchester, the former at least being on the same railway line and major road. As many of Havant’s problems are because we are bounded by powerful organisations, Petersfield, Winchester and West Chichester, our voice would then have more impact than we have at present. So, from our point of view, would we be better off in such a new forum? Only time will tell.
Due to this possible new arrangement and the fact that Havant’s voice may be heard better, a number of local areas, including Emsworth, are preparing ‘Village Design Statements’ to show how the local people wish their communities to develop (or not), in the future. It is proposed Hayling should do the same.
Such a statement would be difficult to prepare due to the different interests of the various parts of the Island, but individual areas could do their own studies that could be brought together into a single statement of desire for the whole community.
This would involve a lot of work, but could be good for the Island. Watch this space.
Casino on Hayling
We are told this really is only a rumour.
Tony Higham.
Main contacts:
Chairman: Paul Fisher 92461412
Membership: Fred Gibson 92466995
Notice Board: Lois Neale 92469339
Reporter: Tony Higham 92464723.
By forum user, Bruce_Bennett
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