Council to make safety improvements to new walkway
Arun District Council is to make improvements to the new Pier Road walkway in Littlehampton in response to safety concerns.
On completion of the work to widen and update the riverside walkway, rigorous safety checks were done to ensure it complied with strict safety standards.
It was also reviewed by The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) during the detailed design process and assessed by them on site prior to being opened to the public in the spring. There were no concerns raised at this time.
Since the walkway has been in use, there have unfortunately been a number of reported incidents/accidents involving members of public which has prompted further review of the scheme.
Details of the accidents were passed to RoSPA which undertook another site visit to reassess the way people are using the area. Following the visit, RoSPA made recommendations to make minor changes to the design including extra railings on some steps and additional gripper strip to draw attention to the edge of the steps and changes in the level.
As a result, Arun District Council is working towards putting temporary safety measures in place, until more permanent measures can be introduced in spring 2016 when the weather is more predictable. These will include placing permanent gripper strip on the steps, along with additional hand rails.
Councillor Terence Chapman, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services at Arun District Council, said: “The design of the walkway followed the same principles applied to other successful, prominent public realm schemes, such as The Olympic Park in London. It is being submitted for a number of awards which recognise the improvement and benefits regeneration projects, such as the East Bank scheme, can bring to an area.
“The new riverside walkway has proved popular with visitors to the area and many positive comments have been received. It is important therefore that the Council responds to incidents to ensure people are safe.”
The walkway was part of a scheme to improve the East Bank area, with a £19.8 million flood defence scheme led by the Environment Agency, £2.4 million partnership funding from Arun District Council, which included £573,000 via the Coastal Communities Fund, and £400,000 Kickstart funding from West Sussex County Council.