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| Previous Crossbush A27works 2 years ago. |
Many people
ask me when if ever the Arundel Bypass will be built. I believe it will take us 10 years to
deliver this important infrastructure, the government to their credit has
announced a feasibility study for providing a by-pass, but due to civil
servants dragging their feet, it won’t report until 2015. How many studies have
we had over the last ten years? and how much has that cost? I despair with our civil service and I
believe Britain prospers despite the civil service.
But more importantly I believe the residents
of Arundel should more worry about the route the By-pass will take. The
Department Of Transport back in the early nineties set the Pink Blue route as
the preferred route and all levels of local government (County, District and
Arundel Towns councils) have supported this.
Twenty years
ago when the dual carriageway to Crossbush was built the Arundel Bypass was
weeks away from being started, but was scuppered by local campaigners who
managed to get the government to cancel the by-pass and have left us with
increasingly an unworkable status quo.
In 2003 in a
personal meeting, the then Arundel MP (Howard Flight) was promised by the
Secretary of State Alistair Darling that he would in two days give the approval
to the by-pass using the Pink Blue route.
Two days
later in a statement to the House of Commons, Alistair Darling reneged on that
promise saying the following
"The Arundel bypass would cut across water meadows damaging an area
of Outstanding beauty. I am rejecting this proposal......In my view [it]
has environmental consequences that are unacceptable and avoidable. There
are problems [on this] road, and I am therefore asking the Highways Agency
to identify [an] alternative solution, recognising the need to support
planned
economic growth"
In a follow up written statement he said the following
"The Secretary of State does not support ... a bypass at Arundel
...as currently recommended by the study. A bypass of Arundel would have
negative impacts on heritage and landscape as well as the water environment. The Secretary of State is therefore asking the Highways Agency to work with local authorities and Statutory Environmental Bodies to identify less damaging options .. and to report back to him."
You
will note the change from:
"The Arundel bypass would cut across water meadows damaging an area
of outstanding beauty" to "A bypass of Arundel would have
negative impacts on heritage and landscape as well as the water environment".
The
point is that the area to the South of Arundel was never in the AONB (Area of
Outstanding Natural Beauty), and this suggests that Alistair Darling took his
House of Commons words directly from a last-minute Countryside
Agency/Defra/Margaret Beckett memo rather than from an accurate and thought-out
piece of advice from his officials and those at the Highways Agency. NB -
Margaret Beckett was senior to him in both the Cabinet and the Labour Party!
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| Pink Blue route. |
The Past is the past and we can’t change that, but
unfortunately the Highways Agency is trying to open the route question again
and to have a partial online solution.
This would involve taking a dual carriageway to the bottom of Hospital
hill and then taking the route from there offline to Crossbush via a new bridge
and south of the railway station.
This is something I and local MP Nick Herbert have
been fighting against; I also believe that the residents of Arundel would
rather have NO bypass than have this route imposed on them. This is
something I believe as a community we have to reject and tell the Highways
Agency that we want the Pink Blue Route which is still the preferred route,
minor tweaks I believe we can live with, but not a major re-alignment of the
route. I will fight and campaign to
ensure this happens to the best of my ability.
Until next
month, Paul Dendle is Arundel Ward & Cabinet Member on Arun District
Council and can be contacted at his email Pauldendle@aol.com
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