I NOTICE the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) have now issued a statement concerning housing development within the NP boundaries ( "New Homes On The Way" Argus July 11th). Readers will know from my letter published June 26 that I have concerns about their willingness to expedite other issues in the park, chiefly that of improvement for road and other access and transit through the park in the Seaford area.

This has also been raised at East Sussex County Council, where in response to a question tabled by Councillor Carolyn Lambert earlier this year, the ESCC Lead Member for Transport and Environment stated that the projected new bridge across the Cuckmere at Exceat " is being progressed in consultation with officers from the National Park. The current programme envisages a planning application being submitted to the SDNPA at the end of November 2019 and subject to receiving planning consent, construction could (sic) start in July 2020. Construction is intended to take 12-18 months to complete and therefore a new bridge might be open by the Spring of 2021. However Cuckmere valley is an extremely environmentally sensitive location and there are significant planning and environmental considerations to overcome/mitigate. The bridge will require planning consent from the SDNPA.."

Unfortunately,  the involvement of SDNPA officers in progressing improvements to pedestrian access at Tide Mills at Bishopstone does not suggest a fast-track appraisal for this key road improvement. In April 2015, I and Friends of Tide Mills (FOT) Chairman Jim Skinner were invited to attend a presentation at the White Lion Hotel in Seaford by Network Rail. Their assessment of the flat pedestrian crossing at Tide Mills was that due to much higher use than previously believed, there was an urgent need for a replacement footbridge which would include slopes for disable access. NR officers stated that construction over the existing disused platforms meant the bridge would not need other land acquisition, and therefore could be erected relatively speedily - provided planning permission was granted.

This involved the SDNPA, as Tide Mills lies within the National Park boundaries, a change to the original plan after successful lobbying by FOT and other local bodies.

Over four years later, and with increasing pedestrian usage of the flat crossing posing an on-going risk to the frequent train services to and from Seaford, there is still no sign of work commencing on the bridge; I understand the SDNPA objected to the original plans which we saw in 2015, and as yet NR as far as I know have not agreed a revised design.

This does not bode well for any hope of seeing a wider bridge over the Cuckmere in the next two years - a bridge desperately needed to improve links, especially for emergency facilities, between Seaford and Eastbourne with its District General Hospital, as well as for the rising tourist traffic to the Seven Sisters area, an iconic national landscape.

Bob Brown

Cavell Avenue

Peacehaven