HIRA organising Billy Trail survey for HCC.

- Fri 27th Aug 2004

After discussion with members of Hampshire CC staff recently, HIRA agreed to organise a survey of various matters relating to the use of the Billy Trail on Hayling. The requirement was to arrange for local people to be present on the Trail at specified times and on specified days to count users and so interview as many as possible on the various matters that were of concern.

As most people will know the Trail has been improved between Havant and Langstone and that plans are current for improving the section from Langstone to the Texaco garage on the Island. Those who read the Islander will know that some aspects of this latter phase of work are felt to be less than ideal and the long-term aim of many campaigners is to have a new pedestrian/cycle bridge probably alongside the present bridge.

While this matter was not a specific aspect of the survey referred to, the bridge issue was relevant in terms of the desire to provide a more pleasant and user-friendly approach to the Island.

Survey Aim.

The purpose of the survey is essentially three-fold:

• to assess the current use and users,
• to determine views on the status of the track and any improvements that could be made and
• to look at the issues raised by the erosion of parts of the track and to determine responses to the three options proposed by HCC.

Readers will be aware that English Nature is vehemently opposed to any repair of the Trail that will affect the role of Langstone Harbour as a wildlife haven. This is a matter of messianic belief in its culture and is related to the issue of coastal squeeze potentially resulting from global warming. The argument appears to be that rectifying a couple of hundred metres of coastal erosion on Hayling will destroy the whole of Langstone Harbour as a wildlife haven. (It could be noted that English Nature has itself been responsible for similar construction work at the oyster beds at North Hayling because that was FOR the benefit of the wildlife. It did not even use material consistent with the local coastline for this purpose!)

Sorry about the polemics but sometimes EN does things that are very arbitrary even though they are really trying to provide the best possible environment for both wildlife and people.

The features of the argument relating to this third aspect of the survey was to ask people what they would like to see, firstly, the track being maintained on the present line by reinforcement of the coastline, secondly, allowing the erosion to continue but diverting the Trail inland to preserve continuity or finally, allowing the Trail to erode and making no provision for continuity.

HIRA was asked to organise members and friends to man the survey locations, at the station and the access behind the ESSO garage and to use the questionnaire prepared as a result of the discussion between HIRA and HCC.

The survey was trialed on the 14th August and the first full survey carried out on the 21st and 22nd.Further surveys are anticipated over all the days of the Bank Holiday and for at least one weekend more.

The count covered the numbers of different Trail users, pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders etc. The survey interviewed as many of those users as possible to determine how often they used the trail, where they had come from, how they got to the point at which they accessed the trail etc.

They were next asked what aspects of the trail they liked and disliked and whether they had any suggestions for changes. Finally they were asked their opinions on the three aspects relating to the repair of the trail

Clearly the survey will not be complete by the time this is published and the full results will only be available some time later.

Personal Observation of Results.

From my personal participation in the survey the results are much as expected though there were some surprises. The first surprise was the numbers of people using the Trail. On the Saturday over 1200 people were counted and during the middle four hours of the day over 600 people passed the survey points. Nearly two thirds of users were cyclists. In total, 100 individual surveys were carried out.

The next surprise was the origin of the people surveyed. At a first glance only about a third of uses were from the Island. I interviewed people from Buckinghamshire, East Grinstead, Windsor, Epsom, Andover, Worthing etc., many of whom had come for the day just to walk or cycle the Trail. The remainder came from the local hinterland from Chichester round to Fareham and Portsmouth. I suspect the extent of the non-Islanders using the Trail will be of some interest to HCC.

On the use of the Trail virtually all users were happy with the status quo. Virtually no one felt the surface was poor except in patches where repair is needed the main complaints being the lack of waste bins and seats though there are several of the latter.

Many people were attracted by the idea of a good, user friendly route through to Havant. On the subject of the choices to be made resulting from the effects of erosion most preferred to repair the Trail, though there was little objection to the idea of diversion providing the continuity was maintained.

All in all the survey process was well worth the effort and we await the final outcome with interest.

HIRA would like to thank all the people who have helped and will help with the survey.

Church Fete.

Last month I indicated that HIRA would have a stall at the Carnival. Unfortunately this year there was no opportunity to do so as the organisers felt that these were not particularly of value to their aims.

However we did attend the Church Fete in the park and that seemed to be well attended and full of people enjoying themselves even though it rained eventually and events moved indoors. HIRA asked for comments on aspects of Island life that were liked or disliked.

The big moan was the continued building on the Island filling in all the nooks and crannies. However, the latest local plan this is likely to at least limit any major new developments though infilling will undoubtedly continue.

Parking charges even for short term activities ( visiting the bank) were at the top of the list of dislikes. Speeding was another big dislike and the suggestion was made that the introduction of mini-roundabouts at various locations would help control this. There was also the suggestion that facilities for pre-teens in the Eastern end of the Island should be improved, though no specific recommendation was put forward.

As with most such discussions most people were grateful to live on the Island and most niggles were fairly minor.

Likes included the ferry service, ‘always on time with friendly operators’ and the availability of open spaces on the Island over which to roam.

While the list of comments was limited it was useful and could indicate matters that could be improved or retained. The idea of more extensive use of mini-roundabouts to control traffic is worth pursuing.

New Season.

The HIRA committee resumes its meetings at the Sunnyside Hall in Bound Lane next month. Anyone interested in joining the committee is cordially invited to ring Paul Fisher at the number below.

Our AGM is on the 21st October.

Tony Higham.

Main contacts:

Chairman: Paul Fisher 92461412

By forum user, PaulFisher