There had been fears that planners may be considering a motorway-style Expressway to the North of the city. However, yesterday Highways England announced it was delaying the consultation process until the summer. Countryside campaigners are hoping that this is a sign that planners may be re-thinking this proposal.

“CPRE Sussex hopes that the delay to the A27 consultation at Chichester is due to a rethink about the appropriateness of a second bypass,” says Director of CPRE Sussex, Kia Trainor. “When the consultation starts in the summer we would hope to see more information about improvements to the existing road and how this is supported more widely by other measures to support sustainable travel around Sussex.”

A statement issued on the Highways England website implies that planners have now shifted their focus away from the second by-pass option:
 
“Our focus, in line with the expectations set out in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy (RIS), will be on upgrading four junctions on the existing A27 and we will be consulting on a number of options and permutations.”

It follows yesterday’s announcement that the seven-week public consultations, due to start this month, has been delayed again until late spring/early summer.

“We do need some improvements to the situation at Chichester,” says Kia, “but a new road won’t solve the problem. The Department of Transport is showing that road use within Sussex is actually on the decline, so I think it’s a much more complicated picture which really needs to be better understood.  We need to be exploring all transport solutions, particularly public transport, before we have any proposals for major new roads.

Photo © Jonathan Pagel