Traffic concerns still a stumbling block for Littlehampton school merger

SAFETY campaigners have won their first battle in the fight against traffic chaos around a new Littlehampton school.

Arun District Council has objected to plans to rebuild Connaught Junior, Arun Vale Infant and Elm Grove Infant schools as the merged River Beach Primary School, following an impassioned plea from residents and councillors.

The council’s development control committee discussed the application, which will be decided by West Sussex County Council, during a meeting at the Civic Centre last week.

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Queen Street resident Melanie MacCallum, who organised a petition of more than 60 signatures calling for better road safety measure in the area, told the meeting: “I represent a large body of concerned residents and parents.

“We do not object to the building, but feel strongly that highway infrastructure measures are essential for it to have a beneficial rather than detrimental impact.”

She added that the entrance to the new building, at the current York Road access to Arun Vale school, needed to be reconsidered, as it was a hot spot of traffic congestion and illegal parking, and that the proposed route for construction traffic, via Wick Street, Arundel Road and Cornwall Road, would be “disastrous”.

“The safety of children and pedestrians must be the priority,” she said.

* For the full story, see this week’s Littlehampton Gazette, on sale now