Improvements to A259 at Seaford ‘cannot happen overnight’

The decision was taken on Monday (February 15), when East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport Claire Dowling met with councillors and officers to discuss how to respond to the motion from Liberal Democrat councillors Carolyn Lambert and Darren Grover.

The motion, which also calls on the council to hold a road safety study and install safe pedestrian crossings, had been opposed by officers who consider its aims to be an ineffective use of resources.

Officers this was partly because two other studies are already set to consider the issues raised by the motion, while the lower speed limit and pedestrian crossing would require costly works which current evidence did not show to be necessary.

However this argument saw some pushback from Cllr Lambert, who said: “We have some very concerned residents on both sides of the A259 and it is very difficult to get a narrative for the public which doesn’t sound like it is an endless series of studies.

“Reading the report, it is clear to me that we are talking at least a decade before anything is done and there is a considerable amount of risk associated with any positive major interventions.

“Coming at it, as I am sure you will understand, from the perspective of a local councillor I think it is a very difficult message to get people to understand.”

The two studies mentioned by officers are: Transport for the South East’s Outer Orbital Corridor Study and the county council-led A259 South Coast Road corridor study planned to start this year.

Both of these studies would be used as evidence to secure major road network funding from the government, officers said. 

Cllr Dowling said: “Looking through the report we have in front of us and listening very carefully to [officers], we have an opportunity to actually look at the whole corridor, which will benefit everyone living and working and travelling along the A259. 

“We are looking at everything from the interventions we are taking into account from our side to the wider Transport for the South East study. That in the long term is going to benefit everybody that lives, works and uses the A259.”

She added: “These things cannot happen overnight. It is how we as local councillors manage that going forward.”

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The meeting was also attended by Cllr Bill Bentley, the county council’s lead member for communities and safety, who had considered previous calls to reduce the speed limit on the road at a meeting in July 2019. 

Cllr Bentley said: “The evidence that was presented at that time did not support any of the changes that were being requested by the petition I was responding to. 

“Since then there have been two further accidents that have occurred in December of 2020. There were discussions at that time, particularly between myself and Cllr Lambert, around the outcomes of those particular incidents.

“At that time the police investigation was not complete. The outcome has now shown that the causation factors involved in both of those crashes were neither speed nor the condition of the highway. Unfortunately those incidents were down to driver error. 

“Thus in terms of the safety of the road, any changes to those junctions of the speed of the road, would not have prevented driver error. Having re-examined the evidence and taken into consideration those additional crashes, my view would be that my decision of July 2019 would remain unchanged.”

It was also argued that road safety works had to be prioritised by danger and that other areas of the county would require action sooner than the A259.

This argument did not fully convince Cllr Grover, however, who said he felt the set up of the junction did have some bearing on the safety of the road. 

He said: “I accept Cllr Bentley’s point about it being driver error, but just anecdotally from what residents tell me and in my own experience from pulling out of these three junctions, it is almost like it is a forced driver error.

“Particularly when pulling out of Bishopstone and turning towards Newhaven, because of the traffic and the fact that from Denton Corner in Newhaven up until about 100m before the Bishopstone junction it is a 60mph [speed limit]. 

“What tends to happen is as cars slam on the brakes for the 50mph sign. You can be waiting for around half an hour to pull out and as a result people think ‘there is a big queue of traffic behind me I have got to go for it otherwise I’m going to be here for the rest of my life’.”

He added: “While I do accept it is driver error officially, I think it is in a sense forced driver error otherwise you would never get out.”

However, Cllr Grover also went on to say he felt previous interventions on the road had actually made the situation at the junction worse. As a result, he supported further studies taking place.

While not given the support of Cllr Dowling, the motion itself will still be discussed at an a full council meeting in the near future.