Politicians call for action after A27 upgrade dumped

Politicians are calling for action to secure the future of A27 works near Lewes as a £280m scheme to reduce congestion on the road is dumped by Government.

Yesterday (Wednesday, March 1) news broke that Transport Minister Chris Grayling had cancelled plans to spend millions of pounds on a bypass at the Chichester section of the A27 because West Sussex councils could not agree which option they wanted to progress with.

In response to the decision East Sussex Liberal Democrats are calling for the funding to be spent on local improvements instead while Lewes MP Maria Caulfield urges residents to adopt an ‘effective and unified strategy’.

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Speaking today (Thursday, March 2), Ms Caulfield warned residents how the decision shows ‘a co-ordinated, cooperative approach is crucial to secure the necessary upgrades for the Lewes to Polegate stretch of the road.’

She said: “The cancellation of the Chichester scheme was the result of a complete lack of a coherent vision of what the area wanted from the upgrade, mainly due to an absence of community cohesion and leadership.

“As the Chairman of the A27 Reference Group, I refuse to let this happen to us with the Lewes to Polegate stretch.

“I therefore want to reach out to all of the residents to which this upgrade will affect, the businesses in the area, the councillors and authorities involved; and I want to say to you all that we need to be united in our approach.

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Success can only be achieved if there is full cooperation between all of us and that we approach it with an effective and unified strategy.”

Meanwhile former Eastbourne and Willingdon MP Stephen Lloyd, has started a petition demanding that the money should now be spent on a dual carriageway between Eastbourne and Lewes.

Mr Lloyd: “In Eastbourne we are very clear what we want and that’s a dual carriageway on the A27 between us and Lewes.

“So let’s put pressure on the Tory government immediately to re-allocate that money to building our dual carriageway.

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“We have waited far to long for a decent road. And now the money is suddenly available the government has no excuse not to proceed.”

“You can sign my petition at Change.org ‘We demand a dual carriageway”

See: www.change.org/p/we-demand-a-dual-carriageway-on-the-a27-between-eastbourne-and-lewes-we-demand-a-dual?recruiter=174399174&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

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