New homes will cause 'car-mageddon' on the A29

The Arun District Council mobile exhibition attracted about 85 visitors.

They were anxious to find out more about the council's housing choices which could see the Westergate, Barnham and Eastergate area earmarked for 2,500 new homes by 2026.

Most of those who went along had one main thought '“ the inability of the roads in the villages to cope with potentially thousands more cars.

Even the prospect of a Westergate bypass which would provide a bridge over the railway line to reduce the infamous delays at the Woodgate level crossing failed to persuade them their area would be able to cope with the additional traffic.

Eastergate resident John Brown said: "We don't want any more houses around here.

"If you put 2,500 new homes here, you have to allow for 3,500-4,000 more cars.

"The queues now from the level crossing stretch back to the Elm Tree Stores in Eastergate at busy times."

Alan Johnson, who has lived in Aldingbourne since 1965, said: "The roads are inadequate and there is no government money to pay for improvements to the A27.

"The A29 is choc-a-bloc now between 8am and 9am with the crossing gates closed for 35 minutes of the hour.

"There was an accident on the A29 last Friday at Lidsey and the traffic was backed up to Fontwell, Eastergate, Nyton and the Drayton roundabout.

"Having more houses here will mean having more families and most will have two cars. There isn't the public transport around here to use to get to work and most couples work in different places, which means that car sharing is impractical.

"The only reason they want a Westergate bypass is to serve Bognor. Never mind about Bognor. We are worried about our own area."

Gordon Buttle, from Eastergate, stated: "Putting 2,500 homes here is going to be quite detrimental to the people who live here.

"You are talking about a hell of a lot of cars with that scale of development. I don't know where they are all going to go. The roads are bad enough at the moment with all the traffic."

He added that the housing would be better going to Ford, part of which was a brownfield site.

The roadshow's appearance at the Aldingbourne Community Sports Centre's car park in Olivers Meadow was a late addition to the schedule.

It came about because local councillor Melissa Briggs put pressure on the council to give Aldingbourne residents the chance to view the three housing initiatives '“ North Bersted/ Littlehampton, Ford and Barnham/ Westergate/ Eastergate and Littlehampton/ Angmering '“ in their area.

Mr Johnson said: "It is good that we have the roadshow here. We were going to be missed out. Yet it is here that they are talking about putting in the new road and some of the houses."

The roadshow was at Eastergate Village Hall yesterday. Its last visit will be to Barnham railway station's car park between 7.30am and 3pm next Monday.

A public meeting about the housing options will take place at 7.30pm that evening in Barnham Village Hall.

* Just two people in eight hours went along to a display in Bognor Regis Town Hall about the housing proposals.

The exhibition was staffed by Arun District Council planning officers last Wednesdaybut the low turnout matched their experience at a similar event at the Arun Civic Centre at Littlehampton.

The town hall display was open between 9am and 9pm, but there had been hardly any interest by 5.30pm.

Council planning policy officer Juan Baeza said the afternoon had lacked a single visitor. "The response to this exhibition was always going to be unknown," he stated.

"We wanted to give people in the town centre the opportunity to comment about the options for housing locations."

The lack of interest contrasted with three-figure turnouts at several of the mobile roadshows, he added.

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A public meeting about the housing options will take place at 7.30pm that evening in Barnham Village Hall.

n Just two people in eight hours went along to a display in Bognor Regis Town Hall about the housing proposals.

The exhibition was staffed by Arun District Council planning officers last Wednesdaybut the low turnout matched their experience at a similar event at the Arun Civic Centre at Littlehampton.

The town hall display was open between 9am and 9pm, but there had been hardly any interest by 5.30pm.

Council planning policy officer Juan Baeza said the afternoon had lacked a single visitor. 'The response to this exhibition was always going to be unknown,' he stated.

'We wanted to give people in the town centre the opportunity to comment about the options for housing locations.'

The lack of interest contrasted with three-figure turnouts at several of the mobile roadshows, he added.