The answer is not a lot – at least on the road in the short term anyway.  The problem is that creating a bypass around the congested section at Arundel has a unique set of issues associated with it, added to a low prioritisation given to the scheme by SEERA (the South East England Regional Assembly) when it looked at priorities across the region last year.  It all adds up to a lengthy, drawn out and tortuous process that may put new businesses off locating in Arun.

One issue facing the A27 is directly linked to a principal attractor of this area – the outstanding natural beauty.  No-one would want to see a bypass ripping through the green and pleasant lands that surround Arundel – and yet there are those justifiably arguing for such a solution.  Balancing the environmental impact against proof of need is just one of the unenviable tasks carried out by the Highways Agency.  The potential for the land around Arundel to be conglomerated into a National Park will only serve to make this environmental balance all the more difficult to reach.

Another factor in the growth and delay of the A27 is the substantial development pressure placed on the South East by Government.  The District Council has to find a large number of sites for housing in Arun and there are only so many brownfield sites that they can redevelop.  Housing densities are reliant on the relevant access networks being in place and so with the A27, it’s a chicken-and-egg situation.  Without the road network, it will be excessively difficult to build new housing.  Without new housing, there may not be the Section 106 agreements (agreements between developers and local authorities that tie the developer into contributing to the local community as well as building their homes) that could help fund the new roads, nor an exacerbation of the proof of need.  Do you build without the infrastructure, or wait for the infrastructure to be built first?

A further issue is the sheer longevity of the problem – two successive Governments have been looking at the scheme since it was first proposed two decades ago.  And old problems aren’t often ‘hot’ problems, although they could be vote winners if anyone actually managed to get them sorted.

West Sussex Economic Partnership (WSEP) are as frustrated as all of the affected businesses.  Their fear is that the situation on the roads will persuade successful local companies to move out of the area, to somewhere with better access.  Obviously this is not a viable solution for the area.

Local business Scott’s Removals, need effective transportation links around this area and beyond – and just do not find these in the A27:

“The A27 is a nightmare – the Arundel bottleneck and further problems at Worthing mean that I recommend my drivers avoid the road as much as possible,” comments Scott of Scott’s Removals.

“Not only can it be a major inconvenience for our customers to have their removals delayed, but it costs the business substantial amounts of time and money.  Whether we’re in a 7.5tonne lorry or one of our Sprinter vans, the risk of getting stuck on the A27 – with the gridlock on surrounding roads that invariably develops – is too high, and so we avoid the road.

“We badly need an effective, modern transportation link serving residents and businesses alike in this area.”

In recent years, several scheme proposals have been submitted to the Secretary of State – and all have been turned down for one reason or another – most recently due to the high environmental impact.   In fact, Arundel has missed out on the first phase of transport improvement funding with the majority of 2006/11 monies going to the A3 at Hindhead, which put more ticks in more boxes than Arundel.  So now, SEERA are looking at the period beyond 2011, when Arundel will again be up against schemes from across the region, including those at Chichester and Worthing, for funding.

The District Council has also been actively pursing a solution for the A27 issues in recent years. 

"The lack of priority for the Arundel, Chichester and Lancing/Worthing section of the A27 is having a serious affect on the economic regeneration of the Coastal areas of West Sussex,” says Councillor Norman Dingemans, Member for Economic Regeneration at Arun District Council.

"Arun District Council with Arundel Town Council has made strong representations to the Highway Authority to increase the 'score' for the Arundel by-pass so that it could be included in the next round of spending after 2011."
Council Leader, Mrs Gill Brown, echoes the sentiments.
"The lack of an Arundel by-pass is a major infrastructure deficit now and we are pressing the Highways Agency and SEERA to consider the impact of this strategic bottleneck on the Arun District and the wider South east area for residents, businesses, the environment and our regeneration efforts on the Sussex coast.
"This deficit in highway infrastructure directly results from Government decisions to accommodate housing and other development in this part of West Sussex and this deficit needs to be addressed before there is another major housing allocation imposed on the District."
In the short term, there appears to be no let up in the congestion situation, especially with population growth and the aforementioned Government enforced housing targets.  WSEP are conducting periodic consultations of local businesses and consistently encourage them to return their consultation papers. 

“Without business input to our consultations, we can’t move forward,” comments Simon Warburton, Economic Development Advisor at WSEP.

“We also are lobbying SEERA, the Highways Agency and Central Government to achieve a satisfactory outcome to the situation.  We need business input so that we know how the congestion and traffic problems are affecting them on a day to day basis.”

The WSEP consultations carry significant weight with regional agencies – over 100 companies with in excess of 12,000 employees responded to the last consultation, giving a strong cross-section of opinion.

In the short and medium terms therefore, businesses are left with very few options.  While the Highways Agency and County Council are keen to implement sustainable traffic management solutions (for example park-and-ride), these simply aren’t suitable at Arundel since most of the traffic passes straight through.

Businesses therefore are left to organise their own sustainable transport policies internally, or work with other members of the Partnership to investigate the possibility of car pools and other shared modes of transport. The County Council can provide advice to anyone interested in this area.

The Highways Agency expect to submit a report to Government at the end of the year to co-incide with SEERA’s latest consideration (which takes place at the end of October), and the HA report will lay out their view of the options for a scheme that best balances the economic and environmental issues.  Work on the A27 at Arundel is unlikely to start before 2013 and, according to WSEP, may not be completed until 2020.

For the future, there is an idea being developed by the County Council for the implementation of a public transport system for the coastal towns in West Sussex, similar to that of the Fastway in Crawley.  This is a modern, efficient, mass transit system using the latest bus technologies and linking all the different stops to a centralised computer to inform commuters of how long it will be until the next bus hoves into view.  Systems such as these remove much of the uncertainly that commuters face, builds trust in the transport system and lures more people out of their vehicles.  However, this is only a ‘blue sky’ idea at present.

Until the region receives enough funding for improvements to the road network, it is unlikely that the situation will change very much.  Despite multiple agencies working together to try and achieve a satisfactory solution, the hand that holds the purse strings is currently clenched rather tight…