South Downs NPA position on the A27
December 1, 2014
As part of a national study on trunk road routes, the Department for Transport and the Highways Agency commissioned consultants to evaluate a number of options for widening three sections of the A27, all within or very close to the South Downs National Park boundary. These are: from Beddingham (east of Lewes) to Polegate; through Worthing & Lancing; and around Arundel.
The SDNPA has been very active in giving its views during the informal stakeholder process. The Government is expected to announce in December which of the many national study areas will receive outline funding to proceed to the next stages of detailed design and preferred route options. If any of the A27 schemes get the go-ahead they will be classed as national infrastructure projects, but the SDNPA will be a statutory consultee.
Andrew Lee, Director for Strategy and Partnerships at the South Downs National Park Authority, said:
“There are strong protagonists for and against these proposals and it is for the Government to take a view on whether, taking into account all social, environmental and economic factors, any or all of the schemes should go ahead. In doing this the potential impacts upon the special qualities of the South Downs National Park are a crucial issue.
“If schemes are given backing the SDNPA will therefore be looking for: evidence that there are no other more sustainable transport measures which would have a lesser negative impact; robust evidence on the nature and scale of the impacts; and detail on how they would be mitigated or compensated for, bearing in mind that this is a nationally designated landscape.”