Calls for Comet Corner to get the Â£2m cycleway fund

Cycle Route A new" shortest cycle route" from Littlehampton to Bognor Regis is to be contructed. Pictured is the proposed end of the route at the Clymping roundabout by the cricket club and looking towards Church Lane. Clymping ,West Sussex. Picture: Liz Pearce 11/10/2016 LP1601085 SUS-161110-164320008

News a budget rise for the A259 cycleway will see it cost approximately Â£458 a metre has been met with anger by residents.

Middleton-on-Sea parish council has led the comments, remarking that West Sussex County Council must have ‘shaken the magic money tree’ in order to find the ‘spare £800,000’ needed to meet the project’s shortfall, as revealed in last week’s Observer.

A letter from clerk Joe Lake posed a series of questions, including as to whether it was possible to shake the tree again in order to fund traffic lights at the notorious Comet Corner junction.

He wrote that the parish council had ‘been pressing’ the county council ‘for many years’ over the topic.

Mr Lake added: “While the latest scheme was said to cost over £2m. With only £375,000 available from Site 6 (Felpham) the best (worst) option was to improve the safety and visibility on the southern, west bound carriageway.”

The county council was approached to comment but did not reply before this was published.

Readers commenting on the story on the Observer’s Facebook page branded the junction’s recent ‘improvement work’ a waste of money.

They commented that it has been made worse and that traffic lights would aid the safety of motorists and cyclists alike.

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