Village roundabout ‘most dangerous ever’

Philip Circus (Con, Chanctonbury) has raised his growing concerns about a roundabout on the A283, at the junction of School Hill and Manley’s Hill in Storrington.

The county councillor said he and his wife had been involved in several near misses at the spot.

“In my view it is the most dangerous roundabout I have ever come across,” he said.

“Either people do not know it is a roundabout or people who use it don’t know what to do when they come across a roundabout.

“Personally I think the roundabout is in the wrong position. I think it would be better to have a roundabout at the bottom of Old Mill Drive.

“If you came from out of space and you went to Storrington you would not build a roundabout at the bottom of School Hill and Manley’s Hill. It is a dreadfully bad location.”

Several accidents have been reported at the roundabout over the past year.

In February there was traffic chaos when a large lorry tried to nagotiate the junction and hit a shop, damaging the roof of the property. The subsequent repairs in June caused more serious disruption at the junction.

The road was closed again last week after two cars collided.

Mr Circus explained he had had meetings with West Sussex County Council officers about improving the roundabout but due to budget cuts major changes were not possible at this moment in time.

One solution he said he was looking into was improving the signage along the road.

He said: “I am also going to ask for official speed checks to be put on that road.

“We are also trying to put pressure on the government on the A27 decision. A lot of these drivers would use the A27 if it weren’t for the blockages.”

He added he had spoken to the manager of the mushroom farm at Thakeham about delivery drivers travelling through the village and using the roundabout.

“The problems are obvious but the solutions are not so obvious,” he added. “If it were easy we would have done it but that doesn’t mean we should give up.

“I sometimes wish rather than being a councillor I was a magician.”

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