Wick store crossing delay ‘putting lives at risk’

Mike Northeast, Arun and town councillor for Littlehampton Ham ward, accused West Sussex County Council of “pocketing” money for crossings over the A259 and A284 roads leading to the new Morrisons, but failing to start work on the safety measures.

An agreement between Morrisons, the county council and Arun District Council, signed in April last year, committed the supermarket chain to making substantial payments for community infrastructure as a condition of planning permission, including £1m towards the proposed Lyminster bypass and £243,000 for other highway improvements.

These included traffic light controlled pedestrian crossings on the A284 Lyminster Road and on the A259 to the west of the roundabout junction with the A284. Contractors building the store left gaps in the perimeter fence leading to where the crossings were supposed to be built, but more than three months after Morrisons opened, there is still no sign of them.

“Morrisons have done everything to the letter,” said Mr Northeast.

“They have put in the accesses and exits onto the pavement, but the county council has pocketed the money without, so far, putting in the safety elements of the crossings.

“So what we have on the A259, particularly, is a pedestrian exit straight onto the A259 exiting from Morrisons, and people literally dicing with death to get across that busy road.

“The other day I saw a couple go through a gap in the traffic which had stopped in the left-hand lane, but when they carried on they were almost hit by another car going down the outside which they didn’t see.”

He added that children living south of the A259 and running errands to buy things at the supermarket were going straight across where there was the gap in the fence for the crossing.

“Just down the road they are building the new road leading into the housing development at Courtwick before it is built, so why didn’t they do these improvements at Morrisons before that was built?

“The county council wanted these highway improvements and asked for the money for them, but now it’s dragging its heels over the work being done.”

The Gazette asked the county council why the crossings had not yet been built and when work would start on their construction, but no one was available to comment.