East Sussex County Council: ‘the finest medium sized valley outside the High Weald AONB’.

On 25th May 2007, the Council officially unveiled the plans for the proposed link road, and the official 6-week objection started.

Read the Council's official announcement here.

Read our latest press releases below to see why we think this road would be a disaster for the area.

Read the objection letter from Dr. Caroline Lucas, Green MEP for Southeast England - this may give you ideas for your own objection.

And please put in an objection now.

Hastings Alliance - Press Release

The Hastings Alliance strongly opposes the Bexhill to Hastings Link Road (BHLR) scheme for several reasons:

• By introducing 30,000 vehicles a day where there is currently no traffic at all, it will needlessly sacrifice Combe Haven valley, a tranquil and beautiful asset on the edge of Hastings and Bexhill valued for its landscape and wildlife
• The road will relieve congestion on Bexhill Road but only by simply shifting traffic to other areas of Hastings. It fails completely to address problems of rising traffic levels. Worse than this, it will lead to more traffic in the two towns than if it were not built at all. A massive 30,000 vehicles a day accessing and leaving the A259 by London Road, Bexhill will hardly pass unnoticed by residents over a wide area.
• The BHLR would not make Hastings or Bexhill any more accessible to the wider region, so would be unlikely to attract investment from elsewhere. It might attract local firms to relocate from town centres, meaning that their employees would have further to go to get to work, probably by car.
• Government guidance on examination of alternative non-road strategies has been ignored by the County Council and its supporters. No proper study has ever been carried out to assess what these strategies could achieve. One study did conclude that the greater part of the housing development could be delivered without the BHLR. If built, the road would be a millstone round the neck of alternatives to the car for decades to come. It already threatens to undermine the case for new station at Glyne Gap and West Marina, and extra services recommended by government studies between Bexhill and Ore as well as the existing market.
• BHLR will result in increases in CO₂ (climate change gases) greater than originally estimated.
• Between December 2004 and December 2007, the cost has almost doubled from £47 million to £89 million. It is very likely that by now the cost has exceeded £100 million. This represents a huge investment in unsustainable methods of travel at huge environmental cost, and sets the stage for continued land hungry car and road based planning practices.

Derrick Coffee
(Hastings Alliance – for Nick Bingham, Chairman)

Hastings Alliance  Press Release – immediate

‘Link Road – County Council’s climate change policies left in tatters with promise of massive increase in car trips and CO₂ emissions.’

The Planning Application for the Bexhill to Hastings Link Road (BHLR) contains figures that show the CO₂ climate change gas emissions anticipated following construction of the BHLR to be far worse than those in the original plans sent to government for funding. These emissions will more than wipe out the CO₂ saved by the council elsewhere in the whole county (1)

It is now estimated that close to 6,000 tonnes more CO₂ will be produced every year as a result of the extra 7,300 (mainly) car trips generated by the Link Road – and that’s a conservative estimate: most new road schemes generate far more traffic than claimed by their promoters before construction. (2)

Speaking for the Hastings Alliance, Derrick Coffee said: ‘East Sussex County Council in their 2006 ‘Carbon Management Action Plan’ aim to save 5788 tonnes of CO₂ every year from their own activities, however the Link Road would generate 5972 tonnes every year. Unsurprisingly, in terms of CO₂ emissions, this makes it the second most damaging scheme out of 59 promoted by local authorities in the entire UK. (3)

This increased total calls into question the consistency of East Sussex County Council’s policies to reduce carbon emissions. While the Council could be applauded for adopting a CO₂ reduction target in respect of its schools, libraries, business travel, etc, it is worse than futile for it to promote a road scheme that more than cancels out CO₂ savings from these areas.

He continued: ‘We are a coastal county at risk from rising sea levels, and in any case should be playing our part in reducing emissions of climate change gases. The memories of Lewes' floods in 2000 have been rekindled by news of this week’s floods in the north of England. Investment in land hungry and polluting car based development has to be halted. The Hastings Alliance urges the public to press their MPs to lobby new Secretary of State for Communities and Lo cal Government Hazel Blears, MP, to secure a ‘public inquiry’ so that the flawed process and its unacceptable road proposal can be re-examined alongside the kind of ‘low carbon’ transport strategy that is essential for the well-being of future generations.’

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

1. ESCC Carbon Action Management Plan, 2006 2. Beyond Transport Infrastructure, CPRE/Countryside Agency, 2006 3. Writt en Parliamentary answer from Gillian Merron, MP, 17th May, 2007

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