Chaos to come during A27 works

The Highways Agency has now formally submitted an order for the works from the Portfield roundabout to the Bognor Road roundabout.

During the works, due to start on April 8, there will be a temporary 50mph speed limit on both carriageways from 500m east of the Portfield roundabout and 500m south of Bognor Road roundabout.

There will also be a temporary closure of the gap in the central reservation of the A27 at its junction with Oving Road.

“The temporary closure will cause a considerable amount of chaos,” said Oving parish council vice-chairman Sjoerd Schuyleman.

Residents were ‘blind-sided’ when they first found out about the works at the start of this year.

The scheme is due to take place as part of a Barratt David Wilson and Persimmon Homes development in Bersted and Felpham.

However, it takes no account of the Shopwyke Lakes development – which has proposals for the same stretch of road, including the permanent removal of the Oving lights.

The parish council has launched a campaign, Leave Oving Lights Alone (LOLA), against the closure.

An e-petition, available at epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/42502 has more than 1,800 signatures.

Mr Schuyleman said the temporary closure could be beneficial in the long run, giving drivers a ‘taste of what’s to come’ if the lights are removed for good. “From our perspective, we are hoping some good will come of that 16-week closure because we will hopefully pick up some signatures,” he said.

The Highways Agency has said, as the different schemes were from different developers, its role was merely to ensure traffic continued flowing as smoothly as possible while the work continued.