Arundel SCATE

Better Roads, Not Bigger

National Highways (NH) is running a Supplementary Consultation until 16th December, for the A27 Arundel Bypass “Grey Route”. Responses must be received by 23:59 on Friday 16 December 2022.

The consultation focusses on the specific scheme design:

changes to tackle a predicted rise in traffic through Walberton
mitigation on the Scheme’s effects on bats
proposals for the Avisford Park Golf Club
new proposals for Crossbush Junction

Responding

Your input is important! Comments can encompass more than the proposed changes; you can object to the entire scheme. All responses will be considered when NH apply for Development Consent next year and numerous responses with strong objections to this project tell the planning inspectors there is continuing fierce opposition to this road scheme and that we want the Arundel Alternative as a proportionate, effective, and affordable solution to traffic problems in the area.

Give your views by filling in the online form (A27 Arundel Bypass Supplementary Consultation November 2022 – National Highways – Citizen Space) or by emailing A27ArundelBypass@nationalhighways.co.uk .

You can respond as many times as you like, and responses must be received by 23:59 on Friday 16 December 2022. When responding it is important to use your own words, as identical forms or emails are counted as a single response by NH.

What’s wrong with the changes

The proposals do not reduce traffic through Walberton; they only move traffic to different parts of the town. Some of the changes will increase rat-running through currently safe and quiet neighbourhoods.

Although NH are including a ‘bat bridge’, it is highly unlikely to reduce the damaging effects of the road on bat populations. Even NH have had to admit that there is no evidence that these bridges actually work.

The revised Crossbush junction is overly complicated and is wasteful of land and construction resources. A single raised roundabout would take up far less intrusive space and make full use of existing infrastructure.

None of the changes stop the devastation that an 8km dual carriageway will have on the Arundel water meadows, vulnerable wildlife and local villages, and they do nothing to mitigate the increased carbon emissions and pollution caused by the road.

More information

The Arundel Bypass Neighbourhood Committee (a member of the Stop the Arundel Bypass alliance; Arundel SCATE is also a member) has a website with more information and suggestions for responding: https://www.arundelbypass.co.uk/consultation-2022

National Highways website has the consultation documents and details of consultation events : A27 Arundel Bypass Supplementary Consultation November 2022 – National Highways – Citizen Space

Check back here for news and upcoming events and if you’re not yet on our mailing list, sign up now by clicking here.

For information on the Arundel Alternative go to ArundelAlternative.org

Background

National Highways has selected the highly damaging Grey Route as their preferred option for the Arundel A27 bypass. Ignoring the 2019 consultation results in which two thirds of the public rejected the off-line big bypass options, they selected the route that was not only the least popular but also the longest and most expensive, costing £455 million, nearly double the original budget.

The fight is far from over, however. National Highways must apply for development consent to the planning inspectorate, which they have said that they will do in Spring 2023. The Planning Inspector then decides whether to recommend that the scheme go ahead, and the results of this consultation and all previous ones will be considered in their decision.

This website is provided by Arundel SCATE – a group of residents and businesses looking for more advanced and less destructive transport choices for the area. We oppose plans for an A27 dual carriageway here, and we support the Arundel Alternative Route, a short single carriageway road from the unfinished junction at Crossbush, linking with the Ford Road roundabout. In addition we want to see improved access through a mix of measures including smaller road improvements, walking and cycling infrastructure and better public transport.

Department for Transport plans for developing the A27 as a dual carriageway across the Arun Valley at Arundel have been previously rejected as too environmentally damaging and not cost effective.

Following a consultation in 2017, Highways England chose the highly damaging dual carriageway option 5A as their preferred route and two judicial reviews were scheduled to challenge this decision, but before they took place, Highways England announced their intention to run another consultation. That consultation has completed and Highways England has chosen the environmentally destructive and costly Grey Route as their preferred route.

The Grey route will demolish homes, effectively destroying villages of Tortington and Binsted (with many households unlikely to receive compensation), and severely impacting Walberton, including positioning a major dual carriageway alongside a primary school playground and yards from a 12th century church. As with all of the big offline dual carriageway options, it is extremely environmentally damaging, destroying the water meadows in the Arun valley, severing important wildlife habitats and impacting the setting of the South Downs National Park, as well as increasing traffic and accelerating climate change.

There is a better way! The Arundel Alternative, developed by local residents, is an uninterrupted, 40mph short section of wide single carriageway road linking Crossbush with the existing Ford Road roundabout. It minimises damage to our countryside, improving safety while providing traffic flow and giving access to Arundel residents and businesses. It optimises road space to balance improved traffic flow with minimising ‘induced traffic’. Find out more about the Arundel Alternative here.