Improve the road we have

Lewes MP Maria Caulfield has sent a message to campaigners against the proposed offline dual carriageway between Lewes and Polegate, saying she now believes Highways England should improve the existing A27, with dualling where possible. A public meeting in Selemeston last night welcomed the news.

 In 2017 Mrs Caulfield, along with former Eastbourne MP Caroline Ansell, persuaded Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to spend up to £3m on further studies on an offline expressway. A 2015 bid to build the new road was , rejected because it was poor value for money, at £405m.  The new report, taking into account future developments in Wealden, is now with the Department of Transport for a decision before the end of this year. Though the business case and preferred corridor remain 'confidential', Highways England have confirmed an upper price estimate of £528m.

In an email to SCATE, the South Coast Alliance for Transport and the Environment, Mrs Caulfield says "I have made clear that I would like to see any funding to dual the existing road and improve access for all road users and not for a new road as some in Eastbourne would like".

Liam Russell, Chairman of SCATE East Sussex which organised the Selmeston meeting said “Mrs Caulfield’s support for a re-think of the Highways England plans is most welcome. At our meeting last night we were able to demonstrate that the biggest problem with the existing A27 is the congestion caused by queuing to get off it, rather than the road itself. The Highways England proposals will not resolve this”.

“We are calling for a rethink, with improved rail and bus services as well as some dualling and modest improvements to the existing road, including the junctions at both ends, which we are sure will be a better solution than spending many hundreds of millions on a new dual carriageway through a treasured landscape” he added.

Message

Signs of an emerging concern for the environment from the emerging Transport For The South East...

🤔 Did you know, transport is the biggest contributor to UK greenhouse gas emissions?

🔜 Later this year, you can have your say on our draft transport strategy and plans to cut emissions, improve air quality and encourage public transport use. #NationalCleanAirDay#CleanAirDay pic.twitter.com/0c78rraxND

— TfSE (@TransportfSE) June 20, 2019

Cui bono ?

I was struck by the number of lawyers representing developers at the examination of the Wealden Local Plan.

Here's a map which uses to dots to pinpoint the land holdings of just two developers, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey.  The dots just mean something was in the Land Registry in 2017 under their names; it gives no indication of the size of the plot.

Another interest represented at the examination was Hesmond's Stud, which has a pending application for 205 houses near East Hoathly. Hesmond's land is owned by Swansea Enterprises Corp, headquartered in the Virgin Islands.  They seem to own more land that would be required for 205 houses in the area, according to another map from 2017.

Who really wants this new offline A27 ?

Spat

One of the "drivers" used by those who champion a new offline A27 between Lewes and Polegate is housing to be delivered in the South Wealden Growth Area.

Wealden's plan is for some 900 houses a year for the foreseeable future; Eastbourne says that's not enough, and wants Wealden to provide an additional 450, to help out.  The spat between the two authorities is getting more and more heated; readers should note that Eastbourne and Lewes share planning teams now. 

Below links to download snotty emails between the two parties as recently as May, disclosed to the Inspector who's trying to sort this out...

http://www.wealden.gov.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.aspx?lID=26825&sID=6829

Grayling still doesn't get it

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, clearly concerned about our planet, told MPs yesterday that the “more congested our roads are, the higher the emissions.... We cannot destroy our economy and get rid of our roads. We have to decarbonise road transport, but we also have to ensure that our roads flow smoothly. Those on the Labour benches do not get that. They want to scrap road improvements, and they want more traffic jams. Those traffic jams increase emissions.”

Here's a great quote from by Lewis Mumford in The New Yorker in 1955: "Building more roads to relieve congestion is like a fat man loosening his belt to prevent obesity".  It comes to light in this article by Carlton Reid, taking apart Transport Chris Grayling's argument, back through the history of the Conservative approach to road-building. 

Comparisons

It looks like the proposed M4 relief road running south of Newport in South Wales is going to be cancelled. It was likely to cost £1bn for 14 miles.  The proposed off-line dual carriageway for the A27 between Lewes and Polegate is already estimated at over half-a-billion for 11 miles.

Either you need it or you don't

I was privileged to attend the Wealden Local Plan Examination last week, at a posh hotel/golf club. It seemed to suit the barristers, employed by big developers seeking to cash in on their bits of prime land around the area. When you buy a new house, remember you are funding this lot to travel round the country to chip away at Public Inspectors, not in the name of fair play and planning, but in the name of profit. I reckon there was close to £15k daily rate of of lawyers there.

Also chipping away at Wealden was the planning officer for Eastbourne, who wanted Wealden to build 461 additional houses a year, on top of their proposed 950, because he couldn't fit them in. Eastbourne and the developers said, essentially, Wealden had been wussy in dealing with constraints which they claim limit their possible development to 950 new builds a year.

Still with me ? Wealden said they'd been told by the Highways Agency that the earliest a new offline A27 could be delivered was 2030, and that was a real constraint. Elsewhere in this blog, you'll read that an offline A27 failed all value for money tests UNTIL East Sussex County Council said it was vital to support the South Wealden Growth Area, and that turned the project into one of real financial benefit.

Whoa. At the gofl club meeting, Wealden Council said that, in the view of Highways England, the delivery of an offline A27, in terms of traffic performance "was not an absolute constraint". Eastbourne's helpful planner, echoed that, saying he'd been told by ESCC that the lack of  an offline A27 'was not an absolute constraint on development' . This of course leads us to the world of Alice in Wonderland, where the Highways England business case absolutely relies on the Wealden Local Plan to bolster its value-for-money case for an offline A27.