Action plan set to manage summer rush to the beach

New traffic measures to manage beachgoers heading to West Wittering in the summer have been agreed by the county council.

The West Wittering Estate (WWE) is proposing a number of measures to stop motorists trying to reach the beach diverting from the main access roads and using narrow single track roads instead.

An experimental traffic regulation order (TRO) will see a hard closure of the junction of the B2179 and Chapel Lane southbound. There will be a soft closure of the junction of Acre Street with Piggery Hall Lane eastbound.

Signs at and near the junction of Pound Road with the B2179 are also proposed.

The aim of these is to ease congestion and ‘facilitate and regularise access and egress’ to and from the car park.

The measures have been approved by West Sussex County Council’s director of law and assurance.

A spokesman for the WWE described how the proposals were the result of two years of hard work by residents, the county council and the estate.

The measures are only expected to be used between three and six times a year, and can be run in a dynamic manner if concerns are raised.

Feedback can be submitted during the experimental TRO, while the estate stressed this is ‘very much a temporary management system’ which can be taken in very quickly once they are no longer required.

Residents have raised concerns about the possible impact of the proposals on Piggery Hall Lane, which they argued could result in access issues and inappropriate parking.

Officers have included the hard closure of the junction of Piggery Hall Lane and the B2179 southbound in the TRO but this can only be activated if there is ‘robust evidence’ of demonstrable and significant road safety issues.