Packed Save Our Town meeting in Burgess Hill: residents voice concerns about Burgess Hill Place and Connectivity Programme

The open forum was at Cyprus Hall on Thursday, February 16, so people could discuss growing concerns about the current roadworks.

It took place following criticisms of the Burgess Hill Place and Connectivity Programme and its new cycle paths, which has seen the removal of the Station Road mini roundabout.

The evening was chaired by Beki Adam who said: “Thank you all for being active citizens and for caring about the future of such an important town.”

She said the situation was ‘changing very fast’ so the meeting aimed to look at new developments and proposed resolutions.

The first speaker was John Samson who had previously helped promote local businesses on social media after the Covid lockdowns.

He said: “Burgess Hill is very close to my heart and together I think we can do something positive.”

He added: “I met many wonderful business owners who do so much for their community. Haven’t they been through enough?”

John then screened a video featuring Gordon Parr highlighting what they perceive to be problems with the construction project on Station Road. This video included criticisms of shared cycle paths, the brickwork, cycle lane widths and the overall design. Afterwards Gordon offered a technical exploration of these issues.

Beki then criticised a recent joint statement from West Sussex County Council and Mid Sussex District Council about the Burgess Hill Place and Connectivity Programme.

The statement said it was a 'government-funded scheme to improve safety and support cycling and walking’.

Beki said: “The money and the plans come from the top down with no apparent understanding about the reality of life in Burgess Hill.” She also called it ‘ideological nonsense’, saying: “People can't do their shopping on bicycles.”

Afterwards Roy Williams, chair of the Sussex Residents Association, gave a presentation on the growing concern around ‘15-minute cities’, also known as ‘20-minute neighbourhoods’. He expressed concerns that the ultimate aim could be to restrict people’s movements to their home towns to reduce carbon emissions with fines for travelling out of the area frequently.

But Lib Dem councillor Robert Eggleston, leader of Burgess Hill Town Council, responded to this directly. He said: “One part of the Draft District plan are three pages that relate to the 20-minute neighbourhood."

He continued: “I’ve already had engagement with the deputy chief executive and the cabinet member for planning to spell out to him that the 20-minute neighbourhood is a planning principle, not a traffic principle. It isn’t a scheme to fine people or restrict them to a specific zone.”

He said he had been asked to draft changes to the District Plan draft to clarify that ‘anything like a fine regime or charging people for going out of a zone is not going to happen in Mid Sussex’.

The final speaker was Nigel Jacklin, of The Democratic Network (www.thedemocraticnetwork.org) who encouraged people to get involved in local politics and stand for election themselves.

He said: “With the right people overseeing things hopefully things won't go so wrong.”

After the meeting a spokesperson for saveourtown.uk said the next goal was to organise a protest, ideally ‘in the next couple of weeks’. Find out more at saveourtown.uk.