Latest on Bognor Regis’ town centre improvement works

Refurbished Station Square outside Bognor Regis Railway Station. The third phase will link this with the new look London Road precinct

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THE THIRD phase of public realm improvements to Bognor Regis’ town centre are set to be agreed this week.

Work to the London Road precinct and Station Square have both been completed and now traffic calming measures are being proposed in Station Road to link the two schemes.

This phase involves narrowing the entrance to Richmond Road to make vehicles slow down, widening the northern pavement in Station Road, resurfacing the pavement on the south side, and in London Road both widening the puffin crossing and narrowing the crossing point.

West Sussex county councillors were set to discuss the proposals at a Joint Western Arun Area Committee meeting last night (Wednesday September 16).

The work will be funded from the £1.6m Arun District Council secured from the Government’s Coastal Community Fund towards several improvement projects in the town.

The proposed changes would create a ‘more pedestrian-friendly and safer route through the implementation of various traffic calming measures’ from the railway station to the seafront, according to an officers’ report.

The report continues: “When the project is delivered, the pedestrian route will be safer and navigation through town towards the seafront clearer, making it more likely that people will walk to, and shop in Station Road.

“The quality of the public realm environment will be enhanced, encouraging businesses to uplift their frontages.”

The scheme was previously discussed by the JWAAC’s highways and transport sub group in August.

According to the minutes of the meeting Arun district councillor Pat Dillon said that careful consideration should be given to managing deliveries made to shops along Station Road, while Bognor town councillor Steve Goodheart raised concerns that the traffic calming measures would create a back-log of traffic.

Officers explained that traders were in favour of the scheme, while a traffic flow survey had been undertaken as part of the project’s design stage to measure how traffic movements would be affected by the changes.

The first phase of works to the London Road precinct was funded by all three local councils on top of developer contributions and was completed in the summer of 2014.

Then the refurbished Station Square was officially unveiled last month by Mark Francois, minister for communities and resilience.

He was also given a tour around the pier as the Bognor Pier Trust looks to put together applications for funding to restore the attraction.

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