Link road model on show

Members of East Sussex County Council's transport department showed off a 1:2500 scale model of the project in an exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion.

The touring exhibition will be visiting venues across Hastings and Rother over the next two weeks, inviting residents to comment on the scheme.

Proposals for the 89 million road, which the council say will create 2,000 jobs and 1,600 new homes, have been submitted for planning permission.

Visitors to the exhibition could also see a set of photographs on how the landscape will alter at key points along the road over the next 15 years.

Changes include landscaping to replace the warehouses and the Viking Fish Bar at London Road and pictures of the single-lane road following the old railway line beneath Ninfield Road.

Residents of Crowhurst can also see how the scheme will look from the village and more details are provided about the connection with Queensway.

The model itself shows how the sites of special scientific interest would be maintained and how room will be left for the proposed Pebsham Country Park to the south.

An underpass is shown at Chapel Path, with bridges installed at Woodsgate Park Road, Ninfield Road and Glovers Farm.

The proposed Worsham Farm development also has an area marked on the map.

Lead county member for transport, Cllr Matthew Lock, said: "The idea is that a lot of people have seen the maps of where the road is going to be, but the model will give people a real feel of what the road is going to look like.

"What you can actually see from it is that the road misses the sites of special scientific interest.

"The other site is the area of outstanding natural beauty, and the road misses that as well.

"The road will open up that extra link for the regeneration of Bexhill and Hastings and the creation of those extra jobs and houses."

County officers at the exhibitions will be able to pass on information about the design and building of the link road. More information and a list of venues is available at www.eastsussexcc.gov.uk

WHAT do you think about this issue? Write to the Observer or contribute to our messageboard