This is the main public toilet in the lower part of Alexandra Park , Hastings.
It is situated on one of the busiest plots in the park. There's the busy Dordrecht Way slope to the left (part of the shared route) and you have the alleged bike free pedestrian park (rubbish) intersecting also.
After passing the loo, going left to right, the shared route crosses the pedestrian route and veers right past the bandstand towards the café.
In the spring and summer this point gets VERY BUSY. Both authorities know this full well. So why think a shared 2 way cycle path running directly in front of the toilets is acceptable?
Now you can see why HBC have STILL failed to outline this scheme on a single park information board. They know people will think it's utterly ridiculous. HBC actually had a LEGAL DUTY to advise the public using every available means. Yet they haven't even got the nerve to display this travesty in the place it is going to wreck.
They know full well this inhibits access to the toilet particularly for the elderly, disabled, blind and mothers with young children. And what happens with dogs now? You tie them up so they can bark at every bike and scooter while you use the loo??
Behind the spot where I took the photo there is a lawned area where families sit and have fun in the summer. The kids are used to just running straight over to the loo. Why should parents have to become paranoid about accidents because the council forced through the cheapest, most dangerous cycle option they could find?
If this route gets the final go ahead it will be one of the biggest breaches of health and safety and equality ever committed by a local authority. Disability discrimination at its very worst.
To claim this scheme has passed health and safety guidelines is almost laughable, but it's far from funny.
Please, please, please if you use the park and you would quite like your kids or grandchildren to be able to go to the loo without getting hit by a bike or scooter on the way out sign the petition. Please ask family to sign it immediately also.
This shared cycle path is utterly ridiculous and we must send a firm message to HBC that cyclists need THEIR OWN ROUTE on an adjoining road, not through this narrow pedestrian park.
Cyclists, I know more and more of you have expressed dissatisfaction at the route after you've seen it. I've met so many of you who are just as concerned as we are. So PLEASE sign and lets all put pressure on HBC/ESCC to give us a well funded proper independent cycle path where public and bicycles are kept apart!
This MUST not go ahead. It is many accidents waiting to happen!