Shambles over Tesco junction

A shambles has wrecked hopes of quick changes to one of the most notorious junctions around Bognor Regis.

The prospect of improvements at the Tesco entrance and exit off the A29 Shripney Road has again receded.

This will leave the thousands of motorists who use the site each day continuing to struggle to get in and out without an accident at peak times.

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The latest delay has been caused by confusion within the county council.

It was reported last October in council minutes, and confirmed to the Observer, that traffic lights had been approved by senior county councillor Lt Col Tex Pemberton for the A29's northbound dual carriageway by the store ready for a January start on their installation.

But that information was wrong. The decision should only have been taken by the Joint Western Arun Area Committee of various councillors.

They have long resisted traffic lights at the junction because of the impact they would have on traffic flow along one of the main roads around Bognor.

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Last week's meeting saw the angry committee reject a proposal by county highways officer Duncan Barrett to back the lights.

They instead unanimously referred the matter back to their highways sub-committee to consider again.

Their decision will need to be approved by the whole before any work can take place.

That will depend on Tesco's willingness to fund any alternative scheme, having agreed to pay an unspecified amount for the traffic lights.

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The councillors' favoured option is for a dedicated left-hand lane to serve Tesco.

Furious sub-committee chairman Cllr Mike Coleman said: "We took the decision many, many months ago that we wanted an in lane and out lane for Tesco's.

"We want traffic to flow through Bognor and traffic lights would slow that down.

"We should run the dedicated lanes as a six month project and see what happens."

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Cllr Simon McDougall, who once cited a 47-minute wait to get out of the Tesco car park, said the saga of improving the Tesco access dated back to the late 1990s when the company received planning permission to extend the store.

Cllr Brian Knight said Tesco had informally operated the dedicated left-hand lane for the past two years.

Bognor Regis Civic Society deputy chairman Hugh Coster led the calls for a rethink about the matter. He dismissed the safety audits cited by the county council as being critical of the dedicated lane idea.

"The layout has been used twice while repairs have been carried out at that junction.

"Both times it was completely successful," he stated.

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"There was no weaving in and out of the lanes and no effect on the Riverside Caravan Centre junction and other places. All the locals want it kept like that."

Mr Barrett warned the committee Tesco might be unwilling to fund a dedicated lane after two safety audits had shown it would not work.

Putting all the through traffic onto the outside lane would slow down traffic rather than traffic lights which would react to the number of vehicles, he added.

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