Newhaven traffic ‘chaos’: East Sussex County Council submits case for A259 improvements to Department for Transport following calls for action

Lesley Boniface, town councillor for the Newhaven Valley Ward, said she received complaints after ongoing traffic issues ‘came to a head’ on Saturday, April 5.

She said traffic lights had been set up for work on the gas network at the junction of Rose Walk and the A259.

Councillor Boniface said: “Residents have had to put up with traffic congestion in the town for far too long now. Saturday’s chaos was a perfect storm with road works on the A27, rail works which had rail replacement buses running and the SGN works.”

She said many residents took to social media to complain about a ‘lack of infrastructure and planning between authorities’.

In response to these growing concerns, ESCC confirmed that an outline business case for traffic management improvements on the A259 South Coast Corridor has been submitted to the Department for Transport.

Lewes MP James MacCleary has also been voicing concern about traffic congestion and safety in Newhaven for months, declaring a ‘traffic emergency’ over Christmas. He wrote to the Transport Secretary to ask the government to release funding for improvements identified in the Major Road Network study on the A259.

Mr MacCleary said: “Newhaven has been served poorly by its traffic and road design. It just isn’t good to hear the County Council repeatedly saying there’s nothing they can do or that there isn’t a problem.”

He said: “There is no doubt it has got a lot worse with traffic jams at all times of the day on the flyover often backing up past Denton Corner. It isn’t just affecting residents, it is also affecting businesses in Newhaven and along the coast.”

Liberal Democrat teams have suggested a package of improvements. These are:

1. Address the McDonalds roundabout with new lane markings to prevent congestion.

2. Remove traffic lights on the ring road where there is an underpass to aid traffic flow.

3. Fix the merge before the swing bridge heading west, which causes daily tailbacks.

4. Deal with the lack of painted white lines in the vicinity of Railway Road.

5. Re-think the merge lanes from North Way to South Way.

Councillor Boniface said she would seek to commission a full movement study for the town to create ‘a bespoke set of recommendations’.

An ESCC spokesperson said: “We fully recognise the important role Newhaven plays in the county’s economy and the impact additional traffic can have on the town.

“An outline business case for significant active travel and traffic management improvements to the A259 South Coast Corridor has been submitted to the Department for Transport and, once we receive approval, we will develop schemes to help ease congestion and support the economy.

“We are aware of the frustration roadworks can cause, however we have a legal obligation to allow utility companies to work on the road network and, as the local highway authority, we also have to carry out necessary repairs ourselves. To help reduce roadwork-related disruptions, the county council has recently implemented a lane rental scheme, which will see companies pay more to carry out work on the busiest sections of the county’s road network during peak times.”