Chaos continues on Pagham Road, residents say

Lower Bognor Road has been closed due to flood damage since December 6. This means Pagham Road has been the only route in and out of the area for some time, leading to severe congestion, lengthy delays and, when torrential rain led to flooding, several accidents.

Pagham Road was closed on Thursday, January 5, following flood damage but has since been partially reopened with temporary traffic lights in place.

A West Sussex County Council spokesperson said barriers are in place, but asked residents to ‘please appreciate this is a dynamic situation that could quickly change, particularly with the weather, and the road may have to be closed again for safety reasons.’

They added that teams are working with Arun District Council and local landowners to hash out a solution, but that it may take some time to fully assess the damage.

Staff at Crimsham Farm, on Lower Bognor Road, say the ongoing disruption has made their day-to-day tasks almost impossible.

The farm runs enrichment workshops for children with special educational needs and the lengthy delays caused by road closures have caused many students to miss out.

"It’s really effected us,” said director Craig Pinkney. “Especially when Pagham Road was closed. For some people, it was taking about an hour and 45 minutes to get to work as opposed to three and a half minutes.

"We have a lot of school transport coming in from different areas across the county. And those kids are missing their sessions down here because the drivers just can’t get through the traffic. Or it's not worth sitting in the traffic for an hour and a half because it causes the kids stress and anxiety.”

For Mr Pinkney, the problem has been a long time coming. “It really needs to be looked at, because there’s so much water coming off the agricultural land," he said.

"And some of the drainage can cope, but most of it isn’t coping enough. If you come down and look outside the farm, the drain opposite is actually bubbling out.

"The water flow is totally overloaded.”

A spokesperson for West Sussex County Council said: “We would like to thank residents and all road users for their patience and assure them that we are closely monitoring the situation and both roads will be fully opened as soon as it is safe to do so. This is dependent upon the ground water in the area as our attempts to remove the standing water on the highway were unsuccessful, despite working throughout the night on Lower Bognor Road last Thursday.”