Options outlined for traffic return to Bognor Regis High Street

They have been given two options by councillors – to restore the town centre road to two-way traffic or to restrict the flow of vehicles to one way.

Their proposals will be put out to consultation before councillors make the final decision.

Paul Wells, the deputy town mayor, told Monday’s (July 9) meeting of the town council he had attended a meeting the previous week in which three suggestions for the High Street were put forward.

“Two are being seriously looked at,” he said.

“The third has been dropped because it probably would not work.

“The two options being considered are to totally re-open the High Street or to keep the area in front of The Arcade closed and put in pop-up bollards there to allow restricted access.”

Fiasco

Parking would be created in the High Street for disabled drivers to stop them driving into the London Road precinct.

Cllr Roger Nash said: “You have got to say, unfortunately, that the whole High Street situation has been a total fiasco. It could have been so much better.”

The installation of rising bollards to restrict traffic entering the road’s central area would have stopped many of the problems of vehicles wrongly being driven through there, he said.

He called for the change to the High Street to be taken into account with an alteration along The Esplanade.

Cllr Adam Cunard (Con, Pevensey) said: “I’ve always thought the High Street should be open. I thought it affected the shops terribly when it was closed and a lot of people found it confusing.”

It is likely to be 2014 when any changes are introduced.

Controversy

The Observer reported how members of the Joint Western Arun Area Committee in May had called for the current situation of a pedestrian priority lay out in the High Street to be scrapped.

The set-up in the High Street began in April 1998.

It has always attracted controversy because of the number of drivers who flout the restrictions.

Only buses and emergency vehicles are supposed to use the section of the road from Bedford Street to Lennox Street.

Delivery lorries and disabled drivers can go through in the early mornings and late afternoons to reach the London Road precinct.