Andrew Griffith MP (Arundel and South Downs) has criticised the Chancellor’s announcement on Wednesday in which she gave support to infrastructure plans that will be directed to Oxford and Cambridge, the North West, and the UK’s airports but failed to reinstate the much needed A27 Arundel Bypass cancelled by Labour.
In a major blow for West Sussex, Highways England confirmed on the 16th January their formal withdrawal of the A27 Bypass scheme despite it being progressed and contracts having been awarded.
Andrew Griffith shared his concern that West Sussex has been cut out of new infrastructure opportunities, and that the county would miss out:
“If the Chancellor was serious about real economic growth this decade, then she should not have cancelled the A27 upgrade which could deliver exactly this for our local region! It is disappointing that opportunities that could be unlocked in West Sussex will miss out.”
Growth projects announced included significant investment in the Oxford-Cambridge region, which will include an upgrade to the A428 at a cost of £1 billion. Other investment will include funding for train links between Oxford and Milton Keynes, a new hospital, and support for expansion of Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports.
Here in West Sussex, the A27 is a crucial east-west coastal corridor route which has long needed to be upgraded to manage the weight of traffic using it. It has long been operating over capacity – as much as 150%, and an upgrade would help reduce congestion and keep commuters and businesses moving. The costs for the now-shelved project were just a third of the costs of the Cambridge road plan, estimated at £320 million.
