The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has announced this week that he has ring-fenced up to £75 million of funding for further work on capacity increases on the A27 east of Lewes. Local councils and communities will now have the opportunity to make their case for the improvements to this section of road, building on the Feasibility Study recently carried out.
Although the A27 is the only east to west trunk road south of the M25, it has suffered from underinvestment for many years, with single carriageway sections creating traffic hotspots east of Lewes. This has particularly affected towns including Polegate and Lewes whose local economies have suffered from this poor infrastructure.
The likeliest use of this money is to improve some of the dangerous junctions along the A27 between Polegate and Lewes and to tackle in particular the area around the Cophall roundabout. There could also be improvements to some of the single carriageway stretches.
Whilst news of this investment is very welcome I have been frustrated, so far, by the lack of public consultation on some of the possible schemes and I have made it clear to the reference group, who are coordinating the work that the first step now is to involve local people on the possible options for this money.
To be clear I am supporting improvements to the existing road rather than proposals for a new road and will work hard to ensure that any improvements do just that, improve the experience of those who live and work along this road. It is important that we minimise the impact of improvements on villages along the route.
I am very pleased that this money has been allocated and I welcome the comments from the Chancellor who has recognised the hard work of local Conservatives who have lobbied for this. I now want to ensure we make the best possible use of this money and that local people have a real say in how this money is spent.