The £89 million link road between Hastings and Bexhill has had initial Government approval but strong opposition has been raised by environmental campaigners.

While East Sussex County Council sees the road as an answer to traffic problems and deprivation, campaigner Derrick Coffee argues here it would be "a scar too far"

Coombe Haven Valley, north of Bexhill, is described by East Sussex County Council as "the finest medium-sized valley outside the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty".

Yet the same council wants to build a new road cutting right through this peaceful, beautiful area. The road would cause massive environmental damage to landscape, wildlife and heritage.

There would be air and light pollution, threats to water quality and more noise from the extra 23,000 vehicles a day.

On the doorstep of Hastings and Bexhill, this area should be an asset worth conserving, not one to sacrifice to shaky assumptions about roads bringing wealth.

Most trips are local and suited to alternatives. There is little through traffic, with 80 to 95 per cent of cars starting and finishing their journeys in Bexhill and Hastings.

A very expensive new road which simply redirects traffic from Glyne Gap to other parts of the town is simply creating more transport problems.

And of course, local trips are the ones most easily transferable to walking, cycling and public transport.

The link road will seriously undermine these sustainable choices.

The increasingly expensive link road means more, not less traffic.

The county's plans for the road show there will be 14 per cent more traffic in Hastings and Bexhill with the new road than without it.

And they predict just a "slight improvement in travel reliability"

- not much of a gain after spending £89 million, nearly double the cost originally approved by Government.

A third of the morning traffic in the area is on the school run. The last thing we need is a new road to increase the numbers further.

We need to encourage healthy walking and cycling to school, and to make the roads safe enough for everyone to join in.

The link road would also be disastrous for the railways.

A transport study by experts for the Government forecast that if a road were built the train company could lose much of its business between Hastings and Bexhill, with possibly as much as a 70 per cent drop in passengers travelling between the towns.

We need more train services and stations. Although these were recommended by the same experts, there are still no firm plans or funds for any rail improvements.

The link road has a cycleway planned alongside it but most cyclists prefer short direct routes from A to B, as could be provided along the seafront.

The local authorities seem reluctant to consider funding just such a new cycle path which the charity Sustrans is proposing.

The seafront cycleway would be parallel to an existing road, would be inexpensive and could attract significant numbers of motorists to leave their cars at home.

This would be incredibly good value for money.

According to one of the Government's top advisers, the county council has never properly analysed traffic problems in the area or fully investigated potential solutions to them.

It simply cannot know that the link road is the right answer because it's the only possibility it has considered.

This in spite of Government advice that all options, including non-road options, should have been looked at before a decision was made. It now looks like a hugely expensive mistake.

Neither is the link road necessary for new housing development.

A Government study showed that the link road is not essential to open up land for housing and that housing needs could be largely met without it. And without the road the housing is much more likely to be well connected to pedestrian, cycle and expanded bus routes.

The new greenfield business park would be unlikely to attract businesses from elsewhere.

If anything, it is much more likely to be occupied by local firms relocating from existing premises nearer the town centre.

Workers would have to find the means to travel out of town to work - hardly helpful to those unemployed in deprived wards.

It is quite possible that the business park, if built, would lie empty, with taxpayers' money wasted on building and maintaining it.

The fact is that the link road simply shifts traffic problems around.

Of course we have sympathy with those living along the busy Bexhill Road but we have sympathy too with all the other areas of Hastings and Bexhill where people will have to put up with more and more traffic.

In truth, the whole town needs less traffic. Public funds should be used to meet the needs of all in the area - simply shifting the traffic around and increasing it overall is pointless.

Contributing thousands of extra tonnes of climate change gases, the link road ignores growing concern around global warming.

The council should be aiming to create fewer traffic-dominated streets and more high-quality public spaces.

Hastings and Bexhill could be showcases for truly sustainable transport, leading the way in reducing global warming - not a museum showing how badly we have done things in the past.