A summer of traffic misery

Southern Water is ripping open Bexhill's main artery at Little Common at the height of the season.

Motorists on the town's only throughroad will be subjected to contraflows, traffic lights and tailbacks for weeks on end between Knebworth Road and Down Road.

Traffic queues east to Eastbourne and west to Hastings and beyond are likely to become nightmares, says Rother council.

Side roads south and north of the same stretch of the A259 will also close during the vital repairs, which begin mid-April until the end of December.

Road closures will be divided into five sections. The A259 contraflow is scheduled for June, July and possibly August.

Residents living along the A259 Little Common Road and in side roads, unable to reach their driveways, will be forced to jostle for parking spaces in neighbouring roads while their section is completed. Each section could take seven weeks to repair.

Cricket and football on Bexhill Down will also be affected and are not likely to go ahead all season.

Rother council leader, Graham Gubby, has called the repairs a "potential tourism disaster."

He said: "On top of foot and mouth disease and the number of overseas visitors plummeting, these roadworks are likely to become nightmarish and not what we need to get Bexhill back on the map.

"It's a potential disaster for Bexhill tourism. We must hope that visitors will still want to come into the town.

"Chief executive Derek Stevens and I have fought long and hard with Southern Water, but the work has to be done."

Southern Water's assistant project manager, Chris Poole, said water supplies would not be cut off.

"We're tackling surface water and upgrading sewerage systems. The area is part of our high priority flood relief scheme. It's quite low-lying and without the repairs there's a risk of sewage coming into homes during a storm."