South Downs activists attack £250m bypass that will cut delays by six minutes

PLANS to build a bypass through the South Downs in order to avoid evening rush hour delays of just six minutes have been branded “illogical” and “heavy handed” by campaigners.

The £250 million project will take the traffic away from the small town of Arundel, West Sussex, solving congestion and boosting the local economy.

But opponents warn that Highways England’s preferred route for the new dual carriageway, through the South Downs National Park, will damage wildlife and ancient woodland.

Campaigner Emma Tristram, who has applied for a judicial review of the decision, said: “It would have a major adverse effect on wildlife, the countryside and the villages it will tear through. It’s absolutely terrible.

“This countryside is a paradise, full of bats, badgers, barn owls … It is completely illogical to throw it away for the sake of a six-minute delay.”

Daniel Carey-dawes, the senior infrastructure campaigner at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: “Carving up the countryside in order to prevent a six-minute delay is an excessive and unnecessary response. Even if the proposed bypass provides some temporary relief for this section of the A27, evidence shows that the building of more and bigger roads often induces new traffic on those roads.”

The South Downs National Park Authority has also applied for a judicial review, arguing that Highways England has not considered the various options in equal depth.

Highways England said more than 21,000 journeys were made on the A27 at Arundel each day.

Current delays were just six minutes, but it was “one of the worst traffic bottlenecks on the South Coast”.

Nick Field, from the pro-bypass pressure group One Arundel, said: “There is no perfect solution.”