Ministerial visit to witness road woes on the A27

Roads minister John Hayes travelled from Eastbourne to Chichester on the A27 on Thursday (October 16) to see congestion woes along the route which is a misery for many motorists.

The minister stopped at the Avisford Park Hotel at Walberton to meet elected representatives of Arundel who support a town bypass, including the mayor, Michael Tu, the chairman of the town council’s transport sub-committee, Martyn Pettifer, county councillor Nigel Peters, district councillor Paul Dendle and Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert, as well as anti-roads campaigners.

He then travelled on to Chichester where he met leaders of West Sussex County Council and the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership to discuss their support for A27 improvements.

Mr Hayes’ visit was the fourth by a Government minister to see problems on the A27. In June, Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin visited Arundel and met representatives to discuss A27 congestion issues.

Mr Herbert said: “It is encouraging that another transport minister has come to West Sussex to see problems on the A27 and meet Arundel’s representatives. We need an Arundel bypass to deal with delays, support the local economy and protect the environment. Too much traffic is avoiding congestion at Arundel and rat-running through the historic town and the South Downs National Park.”

The A27 is one of six major roads across the country identified by the Government as having congestion problems and being considered for improvement.

The Government has allocated £24 billion for road infrastructure spending over the next five years and the Chancellor is expected to make a further announcement about road schemes in his autumn statement on December 3.