West Sussex council backing A27 improvements

2:30pm Monday 18th February 2013 in News By Tim Ridgway, Local government reporter

Traffic queuing along the A27 at Crossbush, a notorious bottleneck Traffic queuing along the A27 at Crossbush, a notorious bottleneck

Council chiefs have promised £20 million towards improving the busiest road in Sussex.

To alleviate congestion for hundreds of thousands of vehicles that use the A27 each year, West Sussex County Council and Chichester District Council have written to the Government pledging their support to improve six bottlenecks on the bypass.

Local authority bosses believe the Chichester scheme, estimated to cost between £71 million and £90 million, has the greatest chance of getting extra money from Whitehall.

However they have also promised to continue preparing plans for short-term improvements to the road in Arundel, Worthing and Lancing.

County council leader Louise Goldsmith said: “We recognise in tough economic times that reduced public spending limits everybody’s ability to invest in major infrastructure projects.

"However, if we can kick-start investment now it could be worth billions to the local economy in future years.”

It is believed the Chichester scheme would improve safety, help stimulate economic growth along the coast and create 3,000 jobs. Funding would come from borrowing and future developers’ contributions.

Council tax freeze

The local authority has agreed to freeze council tax for the third year in a row despite cutting more than £26 million from its budget.

This means the average band D taxpayer will pay £1,161.99 for services delivered by the local authority.

Finance bosses claimed there were “no more cuts” than the £79 million over three years announced in 2009.

Since then nearly 1,500 posts have been scrapped.

Road money rejected

Liberal Democrat councillor James Walsh said: “It is smoke and mirrors to say that the cuts made 18 months ago are not ongoing and breathing.”

Finance cabinet member Michael Brown said: “Households across the county continue to struggle to make ends meet and we as a council have a duty to help them if we possibly can.”

An amendment from the Liberal Democrat group to invest an additional £5 million towards treating the county’s roads was rejected by the ruling Tory administration.

£145 million will be spent on one-off schemes, such as providing 3,500 additional school places over the next two years and financing a virtual rebuild of the Millais School in Horsham.

Talking point: Where are improvements needed on the A27? What should the council prioritise? Share your views by commenting below or share your opinion with Argus readers by emailing the letters pages letters@theargus.co.uk

 

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Comments(5)

Jimmy Stewart's Imaginary Rabbit says...
3:05pm Mon 18 Feb 13

A train commuter, not a driver says:

The A27 suffers from it's need to be both a local road (used by people who want to go from Lewes to Glynde for example) and a major transport artery. It needs to be a dual-carriageway across the breadth of Sussex, and it needs to be a PROPER dual-carriageway with motorway-style junctions and no roundabouts or traffic lights. The roundabout-infested ringroad around Chichester has to go as do all the single track country lane sections. It also needs to be a proper project and not a set of piecemeal improvements - a bit of widening here and a by-pass there. All this becomes more and more necessary as the population of South East England gets bigger and bigger.

It will never happen of course. There will be some tinkering but basically it will stay the same bottlenecked, congested country lane with the stationary vehicles producing more C02 than a dozen coal-fired power stations.

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PaulOckenden says...
3:11pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Proper two-way junctions too, not like the one at Holmbush which serves the West but not the East (so is useless for people travelling to/from Brighton).

Whoever allowed it to be built like that should be shot. Twice.

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Made In Sussex says...
4:47pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Where are improvements needed on the A27? What should the council prioritise?

Surely Worthing? At least Chichester and Arundel, the two other towns that suffer most, have something resembling a bypass although they are not without their own problems.

Worthing has to suffer the worst of both worlds with the same amount of congestion and a route passing straight through the middle of residential areas that have been blighted for decades. Worhting has a population 4 times that of Chichester and 20 times that of Arundel so much more local traffic trying to use the A27..

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PorkBoat says...
6:43pm Mon 18 Feb 13

There are two things that have been talked about for the last 30 years, that you can guarantee will still be talked about in 30 years time, but will never be resolved. Palestine and Israel, and proposed improvements to the A27.

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Nosfaratu says...
8:10pm Mon 18 Feb 13

I suggest all that use the A27 from the west of Chichester to Pevensey should write to their MP demanding a modern motorway from the end of the M27, east to Dover.

At least if you say something, a large enough contingent of the public should get some movement. Why are we treated like 2nd class citizens because we live in the south, up-North and I mean just 60 miles away, they have no problems, motorways abound.

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