Council states cost of traffic lights couldn't be '˜justified' for Comet Corner

It comes as parish councillors and residents have called for the revised £2,065,000 budget, allocated for the A259 cycle route, to be used for the project – estimated at £2.3m – instead.

When the topic was raised with the county council, a spokesman said: “A traffic signals option was considered and an outline, conservative cost estimate was provided by our consultant which indicated a budget of at least £2.3m would be required for this option.

“The cost-benefit was not such that an additional £2m of capital funding could be justified for this proposal, and the Joint Western Arun Area Committee made the decision on the January 6, 2016, to progress with the alternative lower cost option that could be provided within the available budget.”

They added: “The Comet Corner improvement scheme was fully funded from developer contributions (known as S106 funding). £0.4m was available from this funding to provide improvements to the junction required as a result of increased traffic flows relating to the new developments.”

The approval of an additional £800k for the A259 cycleway work, which is due to begin in autumn, was published on July 19.

The increase sees the cost of the 4.5km route work out at £458 per metre.

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