West Sussex village level crossing frustration: These are the 'biggest bugbears' residents are experiencing

Back in 2015, a newsletter produced by East Preston Parish Council described the Roundstone Level Crossing as ‘an issue which will never disappear’.

Nine years on, and that statement has aged very well.

“Waiting times and traffic management at the Roundstone Level Crossing are two of the biggest bugbears East Preston residents experience regularly,” a parish council spokesperson said this week.

"For a number of years now, the parish council has been trying to pull together a meeting at which members of the public would be able to tell stakeholder organisations how the level crossing affects life in the village and stakeholders would also be able to explain why certain aspects of the level crossing are the way they are and what improvements are or are not feasible and why.

"With the right stakeholder representatives in place and supportive of the meeting, it was possible to have such a meeting on 10th July.”

The council said it was ‘very pleased’ that more than 130 residents ‘gave up their time to attend the meeting’ – and ‘very grateful’ to the stakeholders who attended and were ‘willing to listen to problems and suggestions’.

These stakeholders included Govia Thameslink Railway, Network Rail and West Sussex Highways.

The parish council spokesperson added: “Local residents, including some from Angmering and Kingston, told of long waits at the crossing, near-misses witnessed, drivers interpreting the priorities at the crossing differently.

"Public suggestions included establishing a one-way system on the north side of the crossing, implementing roundabouts on both the north and south side of the crossing, amended road-markings and signage, more frequent opening of the gates for short times during a string of trains and building a bridge.

"Stakeholders either responded to suggestions with an initial assessment or agreed to take the suggestions away for further consideration.

"The council is also happy stakeholders are continuing to talk to each other and to the council about how waiting times and traffic management at the level crossing can improve. Residents will be able to find out about improvements and proposals in future parish council newsletters.”

Richard J Richards was among those to air his views from the perspective of an affected, local resident.

He explained: “As a result of increased train movements through the East Preston and Ferring level crossings from June 3 (from eight per hour to 12 per hour for much of the day), barrier ‘down’ time has increased and so have the length of traffic queues when barriers are down.

"The excellent 700 bus service serving East Preston and Ferring has been impacted adversely and the risk is that both villages could see their service either reduced or, worse, curtailed if buses are re-routed to avoid the two villages.”