Commuters could face 16 weeks of roadworks for new A259 crossing
A new hotel, gym and business park complex on Bognor Road, Chichester, would necessitate 16 weeks of roadworks on the A259, according to planning documents.
The Cathedral Way Business Park has been planned for several years and the most recent proposal is for an 84-bed Premier Inn, a Beefeater restaurant, a drivethrough coffee unit and trade units.
As part of plans previously approved for a discount supermarket at the site, the district council agreed to a new signalised junction for the site, near Bognor Road roundabout.
A construction management plan for the hotel and business complex application has now stated those works would take an estimated 16 weeks to complete as part of an 18-month construction phase to build the hotel, restaurant and inner estate road.
A second construction phase, of unknown length, would be required to complete the development using the new junction to access the site.
It noted automated traffic counts in 2015 gave a weekday average of 12,164 vehicles on the A259 heading toward Bognor Regis, at an average speed of 41mph ‘well below the national speed limit for this section of highway’.
Construction would be carried out from 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, but not on Sundays or bank holidays.
Articulated lorries, concrete mixer trucks, excavators, cranes and a bulldozer would be among the construction vehicles that may be required, the planning document added.
It is not expected that the level of vehicle movements would be ‘significant’ given the scale of the project, it said.
Although planning permission is still pending for the latest hotel and restaurant complex, Parkers of Chichester is already set to relocate to the business park to enable the Southern Gateway development.
Parkers’ existing site in Terminus Road will be needed to house the Post Office and Stagecoach base.
Determination of whether to grant planning permission has been delayed, with a decision now expected by September 27. See application 19_00619_FUL on the Chichester District Council planning portal.