Residents of East Sussex will have to pay an extra £100,000 a year for a road to nowhere.

East Sussex County Council has revealed it will have to pay the multi-thousand-pound bill for security men guarding the unopened stretch of the A22 near Eastbourne.

The road remains closed because of delays by the Government in building the Polegate bypass which it is due to link with. The Government suspended work on the bypass in 1997 as part of a national review on road building and has already had to pay contractors millions of pounds in compensation.

Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson said it is a "scandal" that taxpayers will pay the additional £100,000 bill on top of an estimated £5 million in compensation.

He said: "Of course, the county council has to protect the unused road from vandals. But, with millions of pounds of taxpayers' money already paid out to contractors not to go ahead with the Polegate bypass, this additional cost underlines even more the scandal of the Government's dithering over much-needed roads in Sussex. The Government should hang its head in shame."

Bob Wilkins, county council transport director, said the money has been raised through Government grants and allocations. He said: "It is not the case that if this money were not being spent on this road, it would be spent on other services in the county.

"It has been allocated by the Government for this scheme only. The A22 new route was always planned, designed and financed so that construction would be completed at the same time as the Polegate Bypass.

"Through no fault of its own, the county council now has a road that it has completed as originally agreed that cannot safely be opened to traffic. It is important that we meet thie cost of security. If we didn't, we could face paying out even more money because of vandalism."

Last month, Transport Minister Lord Whitty said construction of the Polegate bypass will start within the next twelve months. The bypass will then link up with the county council's A22 route.

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