West Sussex County Council in court row over A29 landslide

West Sussex County Council claims that it cannot do more to fully re-open the A29 near Pulborough - which has been closed since December 28, 2022 – because the collapsed embankments either side of the road are on private land.

A court hearing date has now been set for early January after notices requiring the landowners to allow repairs were referred to the courts.

The A29 in Pulborough was closed for several months from December 2022 after the collapse of the banks shortly after Christmas.

The road was re-opened with concrete blocks opening a single passable lane through the debris, but the council has called this a “workable but temporary solution”.

A council spokesman added: “The landslide occurred at the narrowest part of the A29, where both sides are flanked by steep embankments.

The A29 in Pulborough in June of this year (Image: Google Street View)

“Shortly after the landslide, geo-technical experts assessed the embankments and advised it is not safe to fully reopen the road to vehicles and pedestrians due to the established instability of the land on both sides.

“The embankments are in private ownership and the council does not have legal rights to enter or carry out work required on this private land without the permission of the owners.

“We have engaged in lengthy discussions with the landowners, but we have been unable to agree a way forward that would allow us to solve the situation.

“The council agreed to meet all costs and carry any liabilities associated with the work required to fully re-open the road, however an agreement could not be reached that was acceptable to all parties on the practicalities of such works and the investigations required to design the solution.

“As a result of not being able to reach an agreement as quickly as we had hoped, we installed traffic lights and concrete blocks to allow safe single-file traffic in April 2023.”

West Sussex County Council added that the biggest obstacle in enacting repairs remained the issue over the ownership of the embankments.

The landowners were served with statutory notices to allow work on the embankments, but these were referred to the magistrates’ courts which has been “beset by delay”.

An initial hearing on the issue is scheduled for early January. The council added it would “leave other legal routes under active consideration if this route to have the planned works approved through the courts does not provide the much needed solution in a timely way”.