Arundel Bypass: Boy, 8, fears his grandparents' garden will be 'destroyed' by road

“If there’s too many roads they will cover up the whole planet.”
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Those were the words of one of the children, who have raised concerns over the A27 Arundel Bypass plan.

Storms didn’t stop campaigners turning out to stage a ‘silent protest’ at the Walberton consultation event on Monday.

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Villagers, parents and children from a local primary school, playcentre, and nursery, plus supporters of the ‘Say No to Grey’ campaign, displayed banners and posters outside Walberton Village Hall on Monday — displaying banners and posters against National Highways’ grey route.

Campaigners staged a ‘silent protest’ outside Walberton Village Hall. Photo: Steve Robards SR2202211Campaigners staged a ‘silent protest’ outside Walberton Village Hall. Photo: Steve Robards SR2202211
Campaigners staged a ‘silent protest’ outside Walberton Village Hall. Photo: Steve Robards SR2202211

Rowie, aged four, said, “If there’s too many roads they will cover up the whole planet.”

Charlotte, aged five, added: “They’re doing it by our house and it will make it very noisy and dirty.”

Eight-year-old James Duxbury wrote a letter to this newspaper after a conversation with his family about the Arundel Bypass. It followed a walk through his grandparents’ garden in Binsted, which is filled with flowers.

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He said: “If built, [it] will destroy three villages, a valley with a rare chalk stream, a badgers’ set and an 850-year-old church.

“If I wanted to do that walk again, after the bypass has been built, there will be zero flowers because of horrible fumes and cars.

“I love Binsted so much, it’s beautiful and shouldn’t be destroyed. The thing is, road-building is not the answer, it just attracts more cars.”

Sally Ward, from Walberton Friends and Neighbours, said campaigners ‘share a deep anxiety’ about the ‘ill-thought out plan’.

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She claimed the road could put children at risk, as they try to get in and out of their education/play centres, ‘let alone the damage to their long-term health’.

National Highways revealed last week that up to 1,000 people had taken part in its consultation. The developers said the consultation is an opportunity for members of the public to help shape plans for the A27 at Arundel, which is 'one of the largest road projects in the South East'. Click here to read more

The final event is set to take place at the Arundel Cathedral Centre this morning (Thursday) but people can still have their say until March 8.

Derek Waller, vice-chairman of OneArundel, a bypass support group, said he ‘absolutely’ understood concerns from villagers.

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“It is very unfortunate that people in Walberton have been put in such a difficult position,” he said. “It’s a great shame from their point of view but no excuse from our part that we should go back to square one and say we don’t need a bypass at all.”

On the consultation, Mr Waller added: "This is a consultation about the detail of preferred route. That’s what we’re stuck with.

"We haven’t got involved in the wider debate about roads and future traffic. We’ve assumed the government know what they are doing."

Mr Waller said his 'very pleased' about the amount of interest in the consultation, adding: "Hopefully we will get to some sensible conclusions.

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"There is an enormous amount of material and it’s quite difficult to dig all the way into it. We have done it as best we can and come up with one or two small points that should be explained a bit further.

“The documents say a link between the bypass and Ford Road is still under consideration. We are quite pleased about that.

“At the minute, there is no specific document setting out the traffic data so we are all a little bit in the dark."

The OneArundel vice-chairman said there is also 'uncertainty' over the impact on the flood risk to Arundel.

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"We’re not entirely sure if that has been taken fully into account," he said.

Meanwhile, campaigners will be marching from the Market Cross to County Hall in Chichester at 10am today. A communities, highways, environment and scrutiny committee meeting has been scheduled for 10.30am, in which the county council will finalise its response to the scheme.

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