Bid to change name of Eastbourne street and pedestrianise it

Business leaders are behind the plan to rename the seaward end of the road Victoria Place and calling on the county council to work with them so the area can become traffic free as soon as possible.

The Eastbourne BID group is offering to meet some of the cost of the project of closing Terminus Road to traffic using planters and temporary barriers.

Christina Ewbank at the town’s Chamber of Commerce said Eastbourne town centre had taken a serious hit due to the coronavirus lockdown and steps need to be taken quickly to attract shoppers back to the streets safely.

She said, “The lockdown has shown us that the town is lovely without cars clogging the streets and so we would like to suggest closing the top end of Terminus Road to traffic now. Business conducted in the open air where social distancing is easier to accomplish may be more attractive than business conducted in confined spaces, where customers are breathing in each other’s air.

“Our suggestion is the BID would dress the street in a colourful way and provide large planters at one end of the street. All the businesses would then be encouraged to set up shop in the street, put out attractive stalls, chairs and tables with colour coded umbrellas and external heaters so that people are attracted to visit this part of town again throughout the coming year. This would create a striking entrance feature to the town centre for the hotel guests we mean to attract over the coming months. Our town is seen as open and clean with fresh sea breezes and we are surrounded by an emerald necklace of gardens and green spaces to attract visitors to stay-cation here. This would allow businesses to spill out onto the road without waiting for a formal pedestrianisation programme, like the North Laines in Brighton.”

An East Sussex County Council spokesman said, “While this is a proposal we can consider, before we explore it we will need to examine the government’s guidance on a timetable for easing the lockdown. We will need to look at the most appropriate mechanism to undertake any road closure and to consider issues such as traffic regulation orders required, the cost of the scheme and how it would be funded and the impact on the wider road network. We are in contact with the Chamber of Commerce over this proposal and we will continue to liaise with them.”

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.