SCC Area Transport Plan for Hadleigh
Hadleigh Environmental Action Team (HEAT) comments on Suffolk County Council Area Transport Plan for Hadleigh.
HEAT is a CIC working to help people and organisations in Hadleigh to always take climate change and resilience of the natural world into account when making decisions. Set up in 2020 we have 350 supporters and run an energy project, a food group, climate café, volunteers, bat group plus regular speaker events. In 2024 we won the SCC Greenest County Award for Community Groups.
HEAT supports the reasons for this plan, in particular decarbonising transport in Hadleigh. However, it is not clear how this plan fits with the recommendations of Hadleigh Transport Study commissioned by Hadleigh Town Council in 2023 as part of the Neighbourhood Plan. We welcome the explicit funding commitment being made to transport in Hadleigh.
Specifically, we would like to see greater emphasis on the following:
1. Bus services to and from Hadleigh: These are woeful especially for young people and commuters. Out of necessity people are forced to look to the car in order to study and work. For example Colchester is only 15 miles away but the service in almost non-existent. Hadleigh is poorly served in the evenings and weekends making visits for cultural or social activities in Ipswich and elsewhere impossible as the last bus is 6.30pm!
If we are serious about reducing car ownership and usage then we need to guarantee a more frequent commuter service on a long term basis for residents and workers rather than just “improving bus punctuality and reliability”. For example, if residents and workers know that for the next 2 – 5 years, there will be three commuter services each morning and evening, Monday – Friday evenings and Sunday services they can plan their lives around it and be able to manage their lives without or with only 1 car.
Public confidence in bus services urgently needs building but this will only happen if commitments are long term and service demonstrably improve
The Government has allocated significant funding for buses, this needs to be used to restore public trust and secure permanent reductions in fossil fuels
2. Better cycle and pedestrian links between new estate Weavers Meadow into Hadleigh. The current development off Lady Lane is cut adrift from the town and has no retail, leisure, educational or community facilities and most residents will never walk or cycle into the town preferring to use their cars or go elsewhere. How will this rapidly expanding community be served by public transport and integrated into the Hadleigh economy? There needs to be serious consideration to how this estate will be served by Public Transport.
In addition, the proposed Pond Hall development is equally problematic with no thought given to buses and a lack of provision for pedestrians and cyclists out of the estate. The developer assumes that every household would have two or three cars undermining SCC commitment to net zero.
3. Safer pedestrian walkways and cycle paths along Hadleigh High Street. The narrow pavements, on-street parking, traffic volumes, speed and lack of safe crossings means that Hadleigh High Street prioritises cars above people’s health and safety and discourages active travel. The whole of the High Street should be reviewed and redesigned to improve the experience of pedestrians, cyclists, shoppers, businesses and residents using tools such as the Healthy Streets Assessment process used by Local Authorities elsewhere. Enforcing parking restrictions would help in the short term.
4. 20 mph speed limit: We would like to see a 20mph speed limit in built up areas of Hadleigh to improve safety and reduce carbon emissions and air pollution.
5. The development of more green highways to provide safe walking for residents at the same time as creating wildlife corridors and biodiverse habitats. HEAT has already set one up in Hadleigh with the support of Babergh District Council
6. A ban on cars idling outside schools. We are aware that this is covered in law but to date campaigns have been unsuccessful in curbing this habit with schools reluctant to challenge individual drivers.
7. Car Sharing scheme. We suggest that SCC looks at the feasibility of a car sharing scheme to reduce the number of cars on the road
Hadleigh Environmental Action Team
24 November 2024