West Sussex County Council 'likely' to support Arundel bypass plans
National Highways launched a public consultation on the plans launched earlier this year
West Sussex County Council looks likely to support ‘in principle’ the latest plans for an A27 Arundel Bypass.
Earlier this year, National Highways unveiled its updated proposals for the bypass and launched an eight-week consultation with the public.
During a scrutiny committee meeting on Thursday (February 24), members will look at the council’s draft response to that consultation.
The bypass plans feature a combination of improvements along the existing road through the South Downs National Park and Arundel.
If it goes ahead, some 8km (4.9 miles) of new dual carriageway will be created to the south of the existing A27, from Crossbush to Fontwell roundabout.
Around 6.6km (4.1 miles) of the existing A27 will be ‘de-trunked’ – the ‘ownership’ of the road will fall to the local authority rather than central government.
Know as the grey route, the proposed work includes new bridges spanning the River Arun, over the Arun Valley Railway and over Binsted Rife, as well as a new junction at Crossbush, putting an end to the ‘road to nowhere’ junction.
A report to the meeting raised a number of concerns.
The first was the need for National Highways to provide ‘a more robust and transparent evidence base’ in a number of areas, such as traffic modelling.
The report said this was needed ‘so that the likely significant environmental effects of the proposals can be better understood by stakeholders and local communities’.
It added: “This needs to be presented for there to be confidence that the design of the proposed scheme and the package of mitigation and enhancement measures has been influenced by the assessment work undertaken.
“At present, the material presented as part of statutory consultation does not allow for this to be understood in full.”
Other issues included the need for transport-related technical documents – such as a transport assessment and a traffic forecasting report – and for further discussion about the impact of traffic being diverted along local roads during construction.
The meeting will be held at County Hall, Chichester, at 10.30am.
Residents and other interested parties will be able to watch the meeting live via the County Council public i.tv portal.
There will also be a reduced capacity public gallery available to anyone wishing to attend and observe the meeting in person.
Admission is by ticket only, bookable in advance by emailing: democratic.services@westsussex.gov.uk.
Details of Covid-19 safety measures in place at County Hall will be provided to anyone booking to attend in person.