By Monica Chard
Sunbury Cross can start looking forward to a makeover.
Ideas under discussion include better lighting and visibility, making users feel safe. We need to encourage better use of Sunbury Cross, for pedestrians and cyclists. Currently, you may take your life in your hands walking through the underpass, with bikes screeching round the corners. Cycling is not permitted in the underpass, but that does not seem to deter some of the youngsters.
Spelthorne Council’s Neighbourhood Ser-vices has got their hands on some central gov-ernment funding, aimed at improving access to businesses. This grant is part of the Wel-come Back fund, following the impact of the pandemic on high street shopping. The coun-cil has access to a certain amount, but is con-scious that Sunbury Cross will need more than a spruce up. It needs rethinking! It needs corporate funding to really make a difference. Within the wider plan is the objective of ac-tive travel, getting people out of their cars and using alternative transport, ie walking and cycling. But the subways under Sunbury Cross are a real barrier to encouraging this.
A meeting at the underpass brought up some initial ideas. Standing at the intersection of the underpass, it was noisy and dim. Youths zipped past on bikes and when challenged and the ‘no cycling’ sign pointed out, the response was “I thought that meant you could cycle”. A cheeky reply maybe, but perhaps signage needs to be clearer. Lines of site need to be clearer certainly, and I suggested that better chicane barriers might deter the speeders!
One of the suggestions to encourage better light was topping the trees, a poor idea in my opinion. This area is renowned for bad air. We need the trees. We need MORE trees! We need more greenery in the area of the under-pass. So how about a living walls.
How about mirrored surfaces giving better light and sight?
Talking of which, there are plans for better CCTV in the area to deter antisocial behav-iour. If a place is attractive enough, surely we would have pride in it? Maybe this ugly un-derpass could be transformed with a local art project. Something that would get people ac-tually WANTING to visit to admire it. This civic pride would make all the difference.
We look forward to hearing about develop-ments and to sharing the plans with you.