Every week Sussex Bylines will be publishing articles related to the July 4th General Election, covering both local and national issues. Broadly, our political sympathies are left of centre and, while Sussex Bylines does not endorse any one political party, we are keen to encourage collaboration between progressive parties and reduce tribalism. Published articles will reflect the views and political stance of individual writers and should not be taken as Sussex Bylines’ endorsement of those views.
Key concerns in this election are certainly the cost of living, the NHS, sewage and immigration, but something else has bumped up the agenda for voters in Sussex: potholes, those great scars on our roads that can resemble a lunar surface.
A Spanish journalist is puzzled that potholes should feature in a national election, given all the huge problems the UK faces….“that filling potholes is an actual electoral promise of a national party in a G7 economy”.
Or in other words, it’s a sign of just how bad things have become: we can’t even fill our potholes.
West Sussex election candidates are raising a petition about potholes. On the other side of the county potholes are, if anything, worse. Take a look at this appropriately named Facebook page: Hastings & Rother Potholes the great zig zag drive. Our Sussex motto We wunt be druv takes on a new meaning.
A million potholes…
Labour has hit the road running with a manifesto pledge to fill a million potholes a year. Louise Haigh, who will be Transport Secretary if Labour wins on 4 July, blames the Conservatives for the neglect. She says the cost of pothole damage rocketed to £500 million last year. This is based on research by the Pothole Partnership, which has issued its own 5-point manifesto plan. Repairers Kwik Fit put the damage even higher at £1.48 billion, based on its annual Pothole Impact Tracker (PIT) report.
And it’s not just motorists who are suffering. Some cyclists are paying with their lives: 118 bike riders were killed or seriously injured due to defective road surfaces, according to British Cycling.
Whatever the cost, it’s a lot. Haigh’s offer of cash to fix the problem is modest: a total of £320 million will be made available to those local authorities responsible for road maintenance. Clearly more will be needed, but at least it’s a start, and typical of Labour’s stance of precisely funding every spending commitment.
But this is where it becomes interesting for Sussex road campaigners, because the money will come from ‘deferring’ the controversial A27 Arundel bypass. Villagers worst affected by the National Highways plan — in Walberton, Fontwell, and Binsted — will be relieved. The proposed 5-mile (8km) stretch of dual carriageway to the south of the current A27 would cut through acres of picturesque countryside. The current government put the plan on ice. It now looks as if it might be permanently shelved.
Will other dualling plans be abandoned?
The dualling of the A27 west of Eastbourne is another unloved proposal with a long history. Former Lewes MP, Norman Baker, is a passionate opponent of the scheme, which would cut a swathe through an area of outstanding beauty — Rudyard Kipling’s ‘whale-backed Downs’. He recalled 30 years of opposition in a very early article for Sussex Bylines. Baker revisited the issue in 2021 when our mock-up of how the proposed road might look dramatised the damage it would cause — with very little gain for drivers.
Supporters continued to refuse to rule it out, among them Baker’s successor in Lewes, the Conservative health minister Maria Caulfield. But with a wafer-thin majority in 2019, Caulfield may well lose to the Lib Dems on 4 July. James MacCleary, her likely successor as MP for Lewes is, like Baker, none too keen on the superhighway.
The scheme was dropped in 1996 because of cost and adverse impact on the environment. It has resurfaced over the years, according to detailed analysis by East Sussex SCATE (South Coast Alliance for Transport and the Environment). Bill Rogers, for SCATE East Sussex, told Sussex Bylines: “We’re not clear from any of the manifestos about the future of road building — we believe new roads drive more cars — but there’s been a welcome emphasis on repair.
“Whoever gets the vote, we’ll be writing straightaway to call for an end to National Highways continuing campaign for this unnecessary vanity project.”
He adds: “As a non-political alliance, we would urge voters to think about multi-modal transport investment, putting housing near jobs, protecting the environment and our heritage landscape, and the route to net zero. And to ask questions of the candidates on those issues.”
I agree with Rogers. As a regular user of this stretch of the A27, I’m affected by delays occasionally for sure, but not enough to want to see the beautiful countryside I drive through ripped up.
Haigh has insisted that Labour is “on the side of motorists”, so if, as predicted, Labour wins on 4 July, it is possible we may not see the end of schemes such as this.
But let’s hope pressure on public spending and, if Labour forms the next government, the need to deliver their ‘pothole pledge’, will finally spell the end for further dualling of the A27.
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