'˜Give us the Chichester A27 money' '“ says Eastbourne council leader

It was revealed on Wednesday that funding for the West Sussex part of the A27 had been pulled as local councils in that county could not agree on the details of how it would be spent.

Today (Friday, March 3), Cllr David Tutt has asked Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to spend the £280 million on the Polegate-Lewes part of the road instead.

Cllr Tutt said, “Transport Secretary Chris Grayling this week announced he is cancelling a £250m spend on the A27 bypass improvement scheme in West Sussex because of a lack of consensus between local authorities there over a preferred option.

“Mr Grayling is well aware that in East Sussex all local authorities share one vision and speak with one voice about improvements to the A27 between Lewes and Polegate. These are absolutely essential.

“This is not only for the economic wellbeing of our area but also to reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on the dangerous road.

“So I ask the Transport Secretary to now reallocate the money earmarked for the aborted West Sussex project to our much-needed A27 improvements east of Lewes.”

Yesterday, former MP Stephen Lloyd had asked for the multi-million pound package to be redirected, the read the story here

Polegate MP Maria Caulfield said East Sussex must stay united in order to have a shot at scooping the cash. Read the story here