An Epsom resident and town-planning professional hopes to see his ideas for more cycling infrastructure in Epsom and Ewell take shape after contacting local authorities about the need for improvements to cycling in the area.

Stylianos Rigakis, who lives in the borough and works as a town planner, submitted detailed suggestions for the introduction of new cycling lanes, the modification of others and alternative speed limits in a number of key spots in Epsom and Ewell to help support existing cyclists in the area and promote the healthy, environmentally friendly hobby for others.

In a detailed email sent to councillors and Epsom and Ewell MP Chris Grayling among others, Rigakis’s implored representatives to seize on the chance to help Epsom and Ewell benefit from the government’s recently announced Active Travel Fund, worth some £250 million.

“As an Epsom and Ewell constituent and transport planner, I would like to urge you all...(to)use your lobbying powers to support the County Council (SCC)’s progress on walking and cycling improvements as part of the £250m Government’s active travel fund,” Rigakis wrote.

“Epsom and Ewell is notoriously bad for walking and cycling with the exception of the improvements being made in Epsom Town Centre as part of the slowly progressing Epsom Plan E project,” Rigakis added. “We need more to be done so our lives can return to normal soon.”

The improvements suggested in the Epsom man’s plans include a protected cycle lane on the A24 East Street between Ewell West and Leatherhead, through Epsom, Epsom Hospital and Ashtead.

Rigakis said this could better connect residents with their places of work, with bicycle parking at Epsom’s Ashley Shopping Centre, a key hub of the borough’s economy, also suggested.

Other plans included replacing the off-carriage cycle lane on Horton Lane in Epsom with an on-carriage system to help with traffic-calming, and reducing speed limits on Rushett Lane towards Kington and across Ewell West.

Rigakis told the Comet he received encouraging responses from Surrey County Council and Grayling and hoped to gain traction with Epsom and Ewell Borough Council (EEBC).

A spokesperson for EEBC told the Comet that SCC were responsible for highways in the borough but that they were eager to promote cycling, and signalled their intentions in the “Vision for the Future” edition of the Borough Insight magazine.

The EEBC document is sparse on details but outlines representatives intentions to drastically improve cycling opportunities in the borough as a means for residents to tackle the climate crisis, promoting cycling and other forms of “sustainable transport” as essential for the borough to meet its climate targets (EEBC declared a climate emergency situation last year and hopes to decarbonize completely by 2035.