A27 group calls for dual carriageway between Polegate and Lewes.
Sussex Express, 03 November 2014.
A new dual carriageway would offer the ‘most effective way’ of improving the A27, according to a reference group. The first meeting of the East Sussex A27 reference group met on Thursday (October 23) bringing together MPs and council leaders who want to see significant improvements to the A27 between Lewes and Polegate.
The meeting, chaired by Kemptown and Peacehaven MP Simon Kirby, agreed an offline dual carriageway between Lewes and Polegate would offer the most effective way of improving journey times, reliability and safety. The group also recognised the economic benefits for employment space and housing that an improved A27 would bring.
The reference group was formed to make the case for this part of the A27 while the Highways Agency and the Department for Transport, undertake a feasibility study looking at various options for improving the road. Simon Kirby MP said: “I am pleased to be able to bring together this group to ensure this section of the A27 is at the top of the Government’s agenda for improvement.”
Cllr Keith Glazier, leader of East Sussex County Council, said: “We need the A27 between Lewes and Polegate to be fit for purpose. It is an important part of the strategic road network that has been neglected. Our businesses tell us that significant improvements will support inward investment and will attract new employees. We believe a new dual carriageway will help businesses, residents and visitors move along this vital east-west coastal route.”
The group agreed to ensure the Chancellor of the Exchequer is clear on the benefits of a new dual carriageway and will be ensuring ministers in the Department for Transport and Department for Business Innovation and Skills are aware of just how important this road is.
All of those present agreed with the need for a dual carriageway with the exception of Cllr Rosalyn St Pierre, representing Norman Baker’s [LibDem MP for Lewes] opinion that minor improvements to the existing road would be preferable.
Last week, Transport Minister John Hayes MP visited Lewes to travel along the A27 between Polegate and Lewes by bus to experience the road. He was asked to visit by Conservative parliamentary candidate for Lewes, Maria Caulfield and Conservative candidate for Eastbourne Caroline Ansell, who are campaigning to have the road upgraded. In a joint statement, Ms Caulfield and Ms Ansell said: “When the Minister is briefed and receives evidence on the six national road schemes, we want him to have very clearly in his mind the experience of travelling the A27.”
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Do we want A27 upgrade to trash our countryside?
Saturday 15 November 2014.
Open letter from Georgia Wrighton Director, Campaign to Protect Rural England (Sussex), Blackboys, Uckfield, East Sussex.
“One could be forgiven for thinking the ‘only game in town’ for addressing improvements on the A27 east of Lewes is a major new dual carriageway carving a scar through unspoilt Low Weald countryside and devastating views from the South Downs National Park.
And what of the Long Man of Wilmington? If lobbyists have their way, the new road could be a mile from the ancient monument, pictured, and visible and audible from it. Some would have us believe that we need to swallow the ‘bitter pill’ of new road infrastructure emerging out of government A27 feasibility workshops. It is the brave way forward for economic health in the area, we are told, and we need to grasp the nettle or be branded as NIMBYs.
It became apparent to the 100 people who attended a Campaign to Protect Rural England (Sussex) public meeting in Polegate on Saturday, November 8, that plans for damaging new roads west of Polegate are on the table without convincing economic evidence or traffic data to back them up.
Local people were wondering how such a devastating blow to the countryside could be hurled at an unsuspecting public.
Traffic on the A27 between Polegate and Lewes has not increased in 10 years. Instead there has been increasing use of the rail service, and access could be improved to meet demand. A public information sign posted on the A27 outside Lewes reminds us of the direct rail link between Lewes and Eastbourne. Surely we need to get the best out of the perfectly good rail link we have already got.
Is it good housekeeping to throw hundreds of millions of pounds at a ‘road to nowhere’? Whose interests will this serve?
Our public meeting learnt how safety and accident concerns on the A27 could be addressed by junction improvements already planned, except that the fate of those improvements was flung out of the equation and not sexy enough to qualify as grand political gestures postured at ‘solving the problem’. Neither was investment in rail such as Willingdon chord a charming enough proposition to satisfy those baying for tarmac and concrete across our precious countryside.
Local people learnt of protests that same day against bus service cuts in East Sussex, when surely investment in public transport is the responsible way to better connect Sussex and safeguard all our futures. Do we want to trash our countryside heritage and increase choking, traffic into our villages and towns, or make it easier for everyone to get around lightly with the health of this and the next generation in mind?
Isn’t future-proofing business about access to jobs for all of the vast talent Sussex has to offer, not just those with cars, and about securing resources for the economic health of everyone?
Has the value of our beautiful countryside and historic villages been wiped off the balance sheet?”
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Monty’s View.
I believe we need to be far more pragmatic… The eastern section of this road is indeed poor especially as it is a trunk road. However, the neighbouring countryside is of iconic status, at last having gained National Park status. A dual-carriage way hugging its northern boundary? Walking the South Downs Way acoompanied by the song of skylarks accompanied by the roar of four lanes of traffic? No!
Pollution levels are already drastically changing the flora and the wildlife that depends on it; the chalk grasslands of southern England are one of Europe’s great landscapes. Future generations (and all those tourists that fill beds in the surrounding area) would not lightly forgive us for scaring this beautiful part of England. Road improvements, investment in public transport and a change of mind-set by society as we move towards a low-carbon life-style are what are required.