County councillors encouraged to back controversial A27 bypass route

County councillors will be encouraged to back a controversial bypass route for the A27 at Arundel.
The possibility of an A27 bypass at Arundel has always proved divisive. Picture: Derek MartinThe possibility of an A27 bypass at Arundel has always proved divisive. Picture: Derek Martin
The possibility of an A27 bypass at Arundel has always proved divisive. Picture: Derek Martin

West Sussex County Council officers have looked at the three bypass options and have recommended councillors support a route that threatens the village of Binsted.

Read our analysis of the three options here.

In a draft response sent out to councillors, county council officers said: “The West Sussex Transport Plan identifies improvements to the A27 at Chichester, Arundel and Worthing as its highest priority.

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“The poor performance of A27 disrupts businesses, residents and visitors to West Sussex on a daily basis.”

The officers addressed each of the three options for Arundel released by Highways England in August (Option 1, Option 3 and Option 5A):

Option 1:

“Option 1 would have beneficial traffic impacts by attracting traffic to the A27 from parallel local roads that are used as rat-runs.

“The alignment through Arundel will mean that existing severance and noise issues would not be resolved and may be exacerbated. For these reasons, Option 1 is not preferred.”

Option 3:

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“Option 3 would have beneficial traffic impacts by attracting traffic to the A27 from parallel local roads.

“The economic benefits of this option are better than Option 1 but not as high as Option 5A and it has the lowest value for money of the options presented.

“The adverse environmental impacts of this option are greater that Option 5A due to the amount of ancient woodland

that would be lost, which will require very extensive environmental mitigation.

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“Although it is considered this option is potentially deliverable it is not preferred.”

Option 5A:

“Option 5A would have beneficial traffic impacts by attracting traffic to the A27 from parallel local roads.

“The economic benefits of this option are the greatest of the options presented.

“The adverse environmental impacts of this option are greater than Option 1 but significantly less than option “Overall, it is considered that the environmental impacts of Option 5A, if appropriately mitigated, are likely to be significantly outweighed by the substantial economic benefits of this option over the longer term.

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“Therefore, provided that a detailed and high quality package of environmental mitigation measures is identified and delivered as part of the scheme, Option 5A is the county council’s preferred option for an Arundel bypass.”

What do you think? Email your views to [email protected]