Nightmare of the road that goes to nowhere

Residents of Harwood Road, who were plagued by years of disturbance, damage and noise from lorries going to and from the industrial estate at the end of their road, are now enjoying peace and quiet thanks to the opening of the link to Fort Road a few weeks ago.

But a legal wrangle has delayed completing the second part of the new road, connecting to Lineside Way and leading directly onto the A259. Until it opens, all the traffic which previously used Harwood Road is travelling along a short stretch of Clun Road between Fort Road and Lineside Way.

And now the Clun Road residents are suffering the same problems that dogged the Harwood Road area before it was closed to heavy traffic.

"Every morning, the whole house vibrates. The noise from the lorries starts at about 3am and goes on until late at night," said Wendy Bushby, of Clun Road.

Neighbour Mervyn Luck, who has campaigned for more than a year to improve the traffic situation in Clun Road, said the only solution would be to close off all entries from the road to the industrial estates once the second part of the link road opened.

Rosie Parfitt, another Clun Road resident, said there had been a "significant increase" in traffic since the Harwood Road link had diverted vehicles onto Clun Road.

"All the dustcarts from Arun's depot go past our house, waking us every morning as they leave at 6.15.

"I am totally on the side of the Harwood Road residents. They suffered for long enough, but now it has just been moved onto us."

Arun councillor Mike Northeast, whose Ham ward includes the link road site, first called for an end to traffic through residential areas when he joined the council 14 years ago.

"It's ludicrous that we have got to the point where funding has been found for the link road, but due to a technicality it can't be opened.

"It was always said that all of the link road should be opened at the same time, but by only opening part of it, it has shifted the problem from one area to another."

A West Sussex County Council spokesman said the council was "very sorry" to hear about the problems being experienced by some residents in Clun Road.

The second part of the link, to Lineside Way, had been built by one of the estate owners, but had had to remain closed because of problems with satisfactory visibility at the junctions.

Land owners were sorting this out by doing some work on site, which should be completed in a few weeks.

Once the link was complete, there would be a complete ban on lorries using Clun Road and if this did not work, the council would look at using road closures to make sure this happened.