Landowners at the centre of a legal dispute over repairs to a major West Sussex road have refuted claims they are holding up the much-needed work. The A29 at Church Hill in Pulborough first faced problems in December 2022 when West Sussex County Council closed the road following a landslip, as Highways News reported last week.

It remained shut for months before reopening to single-lane traffic, controlled by traffic lights in April 2023, and with concrete blocks installed on both sides of the road, says Sussex World.

It has remained single-lane since that time amid legal wrangling between the council and the owners of the roadside land – much to the anger and frustration of local residents. But the landowners say that the hold-ups have not been their fault.

Last week, the council again shut the road to carry out ‘essential tree safety works’ but said that the project was temporarily stopped after the landowners took out a legal injunction.

The council finally reopened the road to single-lane traffic on Monday 4 May, but one of the landowners posted a message on social media to local residents saying that they had given permission to remove trees at the side of the road two years ago.

They said that the council ‘do not accept responsibility for the embankments’ and that “any requests for access have always been accepted we have had multiple surveyors and engineers access our property over the last three years to assess the problem.”

However, a council spokesperson declined to respond to the landowner’s claims. A spokesperson said this week:

“Whilst matters are ongoing we are unable to comment on statements issued publicly. The A29, Church Hill in Pulborough was re-opened at approximately 1pm on Monday May 4. The concrete blocks were re-instated to allow for single file flow of traffic.”

(Picture: Mapillary)