Executive Summary
Executive Summary
The ambition for freight in East Sussex is to support the efficient movement of goods as it is critical to both the productivity of our businesses and people’s everyday lives through the movement of goods to shops and between business to business, to our homes and local collection points, and in supporting the growing expectation of on-demand deliveries. This aligns with the Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4) and will also align with the other modal strategies being developed or updated.
Significant stakeholder engagement, consultations and evidence gathering has been undertaken which has constructively shaped the East Sussex Freight Strategy, which has been updated to reflect some of the key comments made in response to the public consultation. Four priority areas for investment have been identified as part of this process.
The strategy has been developed to be able to demonstrate our priorities for freight and how we can achieve them, and how progress can be made on these in the short term, and as part of the forthcoming changes to local government reorganisation and thereafter.
Consideration has been given within the strategy to introducing a freight routing network so that Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) be redirected away from villages. However, on balance, this would place additional pressures on the limited A roads in the county, impacting on overall journey times for all road users, increasing journey times for HGV drivers and costs for operators (which in turn may be passed onto customers) due to vehicles having to take a longer distance and timed route. Therefore, the existing freight routing network policy for HGVs to use A and B roads wherever possible remains. However, the draft Freight Strategy includes several policies related to improving relationships with district and borough councils, the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) and communities to gather evidence and a greater understanding of freight-related issues, in particularly affected villages, and identifying whether any alternative measures could be introduced which could potentially reduce or mitigate the negative experiences of HGVs through villages.
The strategy will be a live document, and therefore adaptable to reflect the impending local government changes.