East Sussex County Council's Newhaven budget could be better spent

In response to the recent announcement in the press regarding the new access road to the port, it seems a wonderful help to the port and relief from heavy traffic for Railway, Clifton and Beach Roads.

It certainly is good news that Newhaven will receive funding to help businesses by the provision of a new road that goes near to their premises and brings traffic relief to the residents of Eastside.

Growing up there in the sixties, I can testify that in Clifton Road the houses literally shake as though an earthquake is occurring when lorries pass by.

However, on closer inspection of the proposed plans I notice that the road connects to an existing unfinished road, ready to discharge traffic past Halfords onto the roundabout adjacent to McDonalds.

At peak times and when the rail crossing is in operation, this roundabout already becomes severely congested and so when additional factors associated with the new road are in place (Brett and Conway aggregate plants and hundreds of additional homes) the existing road infrastructure around Newhaven will grind to a halt for much longer.

Some new traffic will be accessing the A27 via New Road under the flyover, along the western section of The Drove passing Lidl and the trading estate. This route often becomes gridlocked with shoppers and visitors to the trading estate, business and port traffic, buses and North Quay lorries all using the road.

Other traffic from the new port road will also head off in all directions, which inevitably means more fumes and air pollution around Newhaven, which won’t be limited to the town centre Air Quality Management Zone currently used as an indicator.

The proposal also terminates at a new roundabout south of Tidemills Creek with the proposed flyover bridge accessing it, with no connection to any existing roads other than at the rear of Halfords.

With the Brett processing aggregate plant being very recently approved too, no doubt Brett will be constructing a connecting road to enable its heavy duty vehicles to use the Port Access Road, via the new roundabout.

Where will other Eastside business users be able to access the new road?

What a shame that the county’s plans didn’t include a forward thinking holistic solution that benefits Newhaven in a more positive way to relieve traffic congestion in the area around the flyover.

The £23 million budget would no doubt be of more benefit if this project focussed on the infrastructure serving all businesses, visitors and residents using the existing poor road layout in this area.