Regeneration? No degeneration

The traffic accident on the A259 at the Bishopstone junction last Friday 28th September, (and its ongoing effect which closed the roads in and around Newhaven almost completely for around 8-9 hours), just goes to show that the ' ghosts' who sit on their thrones at East Sussex County Council making decisions about the so-called re-generation of Newhaven, are apparently deaf, dumb and blind and make their decisions with headphones and blinkers on.

I am certain that not one of those ESCC “ghosts” has EVER sat in a car in the Newhaven area and been subjected to the frustration and aggravation such as that to which I (and many hundreds of others) were personally subjected having been caught up in the ensuing chaos last Friday. All of which was due simply to “out of town” decisions made by those Ghosts. All that is happening continuously in the area, due to the efforts of the decision makers is NOT Re-generation, BUT DE-GENERATION.

Whilst caught up in this latest farcical episode, and to help lower the pollution I personally continually cut my engine, then started it again in order to move forward a few FEET. And so it went on for over an hour, Stop, Start, stop again and again, during which time I travelled less than a mile, with much l`

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Also during this idiotic farce you can guarantee that nobody from East Sussex County Highways (or in fact anybody from an official organisation was there to take readings to check the air pollution) even though much of the traffic congestion in that location was occurring in the area which is already known to daily exceed the Government guidelines.

Considering that there are similar road accidents and consequential road closures almost on a regular basis on the roads in and around Newhaven, who in their right mind would have agreed to permit even greater number of large lorries to trundle daily in and out of the concrete works to be constructed adjacent to East Pier and then have to spill out onto the Drove from the new road constructed alongside Halfords. Why didn’t someone have the forethought to arrange for the output from the concrete plant to be transported BY RAIL from the rail sidings at the old Harbour/Marine Railway Station, to a transfer depot inland.

NO all that has happened is that such a possibility has disappeared with the quick removal of the sidings in question, even though a similar siding has been constructed adjacent to the incinerator to transfer waste materials (the Fly Ash).

And let’s not forget, on many occasions when incidents occur on the A27 some six miles inland from the A259, many drivers divert from the A27 onto the A259 and when this happens if an accident has also occurred on the A259, all hell lets loose.

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In fact on the date in question apart from the accident on the A259 close to Bishopstone, there was also (I believe) a fatality on the A259 at Sutton Corner, Seaford which caused further chaos.

And to top it all, a collapsed manhole in surface of the A27 somewhere near Drusillas, which may well have resulted in some drivers unwittingly diverting from the A27 down to the A259.

Why can’t the powers-that-be just let Newhaven Town Council (the majority of whose members live locally) make the planning decisions based upon their own experiences of “cause and effect” and what happens in situations such as occurred last Friday.

Richard Beckett

Fairholme Road, Newhaven