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Safer C7 Project
Lewes, East Sussex, United Kingdom
Aim
The purpose of the Safer C7 Project is to make this rural road in the South Downs National Park safer for all users.
What's so special about the C7?
The C7 Road is an ancient trackway, now a ‘C’ (country) road, which links the port of Newhaven with the ancient town of Lewes. It is the only route through the Lower Ouse Valley from Lewes to Newhaven on the west side of the river.
Once it was an important transport route between London and the Channel ferry port of Newhaven, from there a sail to Dieppe, and on to Paris. Transformed from a track to a paved road in the 1930’s, it was one of the first roads in the UK to be covered in tarmac. In both World Wars, the C7 was the main route for tanks, and supplies travelling to and from Newhaven and the Continent. However, it has never lost its rural nature, passing through some of the most beautiful landscape in the South Downs National Park, still curving around field boundaries to link trackways and ancient villages.
Along its five-mile route are three working farms, one vineyard, two pubs, three Norman churches and one Saxon church. The villages and hamlets along the C7 are recorded in the Domesday Book and there are two manors dating from the middle ages. There are two sites of special scientific interest which have been designated due to the rarity of the flora and fauna that inhabit them. Virginia Woolf’s home, Monks House, is in Rodmell and this is now a National Trust Property, a site of pilgrimage for people who wish to pay homage to the author and her work. There are campsites and pubs and bed and breakfast accommodation. The only Youth Hostel on the South Downs Way is located at Itford Farm, on the edge of Southease village. The C7 is criss-crossed by footpaths, as well as by the South Downs Way, and the Greenwich Meridian, which splits the hemisphere into east and west.
Why does something need to be done about the C7?
There have been over 20 accidents in three years on the 7.5 miles of the C7. The C7 is a narrow and winding country road, yet it is used as a cut through by traffic coming from the A27 Ashcombe roundabout between the A27 and Newhaven, when the A26 was built for this purpose. Over 10,000 vehicles per day use the C7, with a speed limit of 50 mph, including past two schools. Vehicles turning out of villages, schools and farms on to the C7 are unable to see on-coming traffic travelling towards them at high speeds from around blind bends. There are few opportunities for safe overtaking. The Safer C7 Residents Survey in 2021 found that 95% respondents want safety improvements to the C7.
Why is it down to the community to get safety improvements made?
East Sussex Highways (ESH) have limited resources for road safety improvements. ESH applies strict criteria to prioritise which roads are eligible. The criteria used by ESH for safety improvements, including reduced speed limits, are the number of people killed or seriously injured within 50m of one particular site; the ‘natural speed’ of vehicles; the number of buildings ‘fronting’ a stretch of road.
The C7 does not meet these criteria. The frequent accidents on the C7 are spread along its 7.5 mile length because the whole road is narrow and hazardous. Although there are 720 households dependent on the C7, the villages and farms are set back from the main road, accessed by junctions with inadequate sight lines.
For applications to reduce speed limits, the police require physical and other measures to reduce vehicle speed, so that the lower speed limit is self-enforcing. This is because research shows that reducing a speed limit does not in itself generally reduce vehicle speed, without expensive enforcement measures.
What are we trying to do about the C7?
A group of local residents has set up The Safer C7 Project to find an alternative, community solution for the whole of this problem road, and through Kingston to the A27. The Safer C7 Project is a constituted group, which has the support of local parish councils, and representatives of Lewes District and Town Councils, Newhaven Town Council, East Sussex County Council and the South Downs National Park.
We intend to commission the production of a road design strategy for the C7 that will bring about driver behaviour and vehicle speeds which are appropriate for its rural location, and the narrow, winding geography of the road. We want to make the road safer for everyone who uses it, not only motor vehicles. We believe that a consistent approach along the whole of the C7, and the route through Kingston to the A27, will have a greater impact on driver behaviour than piecemeal measures.
The resulting plan will enable us to apply for Community Infrastructure Levy funds on the scale required to implement the recommended measures.
What’s so special about this project?
We will use an independent highways consultant who can think outside the East Sussex Highways ‘box’. They will be briefed to:
- focus on the needs of all users of the road, not just motor vehicles;
- apply the design principles for rural roads set out by the South Downs National Park Authority;
- avoid features which are inappropriate for this rural location, such as traffic lights ;
This innovative project can act as a template for safety improvements on other rural roads within the South Downs National Park.
What happens if not enough money is raised, or the project doesn’t go ahead?
All money will be refunded to the donors. This crowd funding platform will automatically reimburse all donations to the donor if the total target amount is not achieved. The Crowd funder platform to be used includes an element of matched funding from East Sussex Council.
Parishes have pledged specific financial contributions, but they will not be asked to pay over any funds until the whole amount needed has been raised, and the project is able to proceed.
Please Help Us to Make the C7 Safer for All Users
This project successfully funded on 27th July 2023