West Sussex village roadworks cause traffic chaos: Council 'understands the frustrations' of residents

This comes after Lancing resident Gina Scotting wrote a letter to Leigh Whitehouse, chief executive of West Sussex County Council, to highlight her concerns.

The letter, which was also sent to the Worthing Herald, read: “More roadworks and traffic lights have appeared in Lancing. This time at the roundabout at the A259 and A2025 causing mayhem.

"The lights are only for the east/westbound traffic. No lights coming from the north and therefore the west bound traffic has no chance to move.

"I tried to report it on your website, which is not fit for purpose. There will be an accident at this junction because nobody is being considerate.

"Put a set of lights controlling the traffic coming from the north on the A2025 to give everyone a good chance of moving.

"Whoever approved this probably has no idea of the layout of Lancing, nor do they seem to care, which is par for the course because you allow all sorts of roadworks to block the residents all the time. Get it sorted before there is an accident.”

Another resident told Sussex World: “I honestly think Lancing seafront might be the most dug up/temporary traffic light heavy road in the country. It's mental. There is pretty much always roadworks somewhere along the stretch between Brooklands and Shoreham beach.”

West Sussex County Council has issued a statement in response to these concerns.

A spokesperson said: “We are aware of and understand the frustrations caused by the current volume of roadworks in Lancing.

“We make every effort to coordinate planned work on our road network to minimise the amount of disruption, with every application being carefully considered, taking into account other works in the surrounding area, before a permit is issued.

"However, utility companies have a statutory right to undertake emergency works on the highway with little or no notice and the county council has no power to prevent the utility company from responding to such incidents.

“In relation to the gas works on the A259/A2025, West Sussex County Council officers carried out a site inspection and requested that the two-way lights be updated to three-way lights, adding a light on the A2025, to alleviate the issue of queuing traffic on the roundabout.

"We have also instructed that the lights are manually controlled with the use of traffic spotters to ensure peaks in traffic flow are addressed. The lights at this location are due to be removed on Friday, March 7.

“Our highway network management team use the one.network website to provide live updates of all roadworks in progress, including emergency responses as we are informed of them, and we encourage drivers and residents to check the site when planning their journeys.”