West Sussex flooding: Council staff 'continue to investigate a suitable solution' to reopen major A-road

West Sussex Highways confirmed that Shripney Road remains closed to all non-residents and non-local business owners. The road has been closed since Monday, February 2.

The latest statement, just after 4pm on Friday (February 6), added: “We continue to investigate a suitable solution.

"There was significant rainfall overnight which has caused further issues and the road has become impassable via Sack Lane.”

Resident access is being enabled north of Sack Lane, via A29 Woodgate. People south of Sack Lane will be able to enter and exit via the Saltbox roundabout.

The county council department added: “We will provide further updates on Monday. Please note, ignoring or moving authorised road closures is illegal as these are in place to protect the public and workers.”

Meanwhile, West Sussex Highways confirmed that B2166 Pagham Road has been inspected and was ‘being reopened’ at 1.30pm, on Friday.

However, Highleigh Road and Keynor Lane remain closed, after flooding ‘worsened overnight’ from ‘significant rainfall’.

A social media read: “To access the latest information, residents should contact the Environmental Agency online at https://www.gov.uk/report-flood-cause or through their incident hotline: 0800 806070.

“We will provide further updates next week. Please note, ignoring or moving authorised road closures is illegal as these are in place to protect the public and workers.”

No timescale has yet been given for reopening the closed roads.

With further rain scheduled over the weekend, the council signposted flooding advice: https://www.gov.uk/help-during-flood; weather.metoffice.gov.uk/warnings-and-advice/seasonal-advice/stay-safe-in-heavy-rain and https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/fire-emergencies-and-crime/dealing-with-extreme-weather/flooding/flooding-advice/.

For any ‘urgent issues’, an out of hours customer response team will continue to be available 24/7 via www.westsussex.gov.uk/contact-us/. For non-urgent issues, people are encouraged to use the online reporting tool: https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/make-an-enquiry-or-report-a-problem-with-a-road-or-pavement/