First cars on Link Road within four years?

After the jubilation of last week's decision, East Sussex County Council officers now have to produce a detailed report that will answer all the questions the planning board may ask.

Duncan Jordan, assistant director of transport at the county council, thinks it may take as long as nine to 12 months to bring the 3.4 mile, 47m Hastings to Bexhill link road to planning.

He said that after going through planning it was likely the scheme, which runs from London Road in Bexhill, to Queensway would go through a public inquiry scheduled to last six months.

If the Government-appointed independent inspector for the public inquiry decides building can go ahead, the lucrative contract to build the road would go out for tender.

The county envisages that to take three or four months, with building work itself to take about 18 months.

Mr Jordan said: "We have to take everything forward and work it up in detail. The work so far had to be enough to support the road and the business case for it.

"We have to complete the work on the environmental impacts, landscaping and the impacts on flora and fauna. We also have to look at drainage issues and details such as how the junctions would work at each end of the road."

Mr Jordan said work had to be done to issue compulsory purchase orders on privately owned land which the road is planned to run through.

He said a public inquiry is not a statutory obligation but could be called in two different ways - by pressure from the environmental lobby and by a landowner unhappy with the terms of the compulsory purchase order.

He said the government money would not come into play until the road is approved.

That means the county council, working with its partners, such as the Hastings and Bexhill Task Force, will have to find the estimated 3.4m to pay for the design work leading up to the planning application and the public inquiry.

Mr Jordan said meetings were being planned for the New Year to discuss funding issues.