Campaigners against the chosen route for the Arundel Bypass in West Sussex are planning a march to County Hall in Chichester tomorrow (Thursday 24 February) to coincide with the council’s Communities, Highways, Environment and Scrutiny Committee meeting, when the County Council will decide its response to the proposal from National Highways.

National Highways says a consultation demonstrated a high level of support for improving the A27 and that the “Grey route” option “presents the best opportunity to deliver the project objectives”.

But the Sussex Express reports that campaigners believe this is not right, saying, “We want the County Council to agree that the National Highways’ consultation process has been flawed, with too much misleading or missing information, and that they have not satisfactorily met their agreed objectives.

“With the spiralling costs of the road (currently circa 0.5 £billion) and the decreasing Benefit to Cost ratio, campaigners want the County Council, MPs and decision makers to listen to those who will be most impacted.”

National Highways says more than 1,600 people attended consultation exhibitions and it received 4,945 response forms as well as 113 other written responses. Two email campaigns that opposed the proposals were launched during the further consultation. One supported the ‘Arundel Alternative’ (a wide single carriageway proposal that was promoted locally) and prompted 575 emails. The other was led by the Woodland Trust and objected to all the proposed options due to their environmental impacts and it prompted 1,449 emails.

(Graphic – National Highways)