Press release: Arundel bypass – further consultation next spring

People living, working and travelling in West Sussex will have an opportunity to review updated plans for upgrading the A27 near Arundel, Highways England announced today (Friday 12 October).

The consultation will give local people a fresh look at all the viable options for upgrading the A27 using the latest available information.

An earlier consultation led to a preferred route, known as Option 5a, being announced in May. Since then, as part of Highways England’s work to develop the scheme for submission of a planning application, important new evidence is available which merits putting the plans to the public again. This new information includes a redesign of the western end of the scheme where it re-joins the existing A27, updated traffic modelling results and updated data on and enhancements of the alternative Options 1 and 3.

This further round of consultation will give people an opportunity to comment on all matters presented at the previous consultation in 2017 and the new information available. It will allow consultees to comment on all three route options previously consulted upon: Option 1, Option 3 and Option 5a.

Following the further consultation, Highways England will consider the responses, alongside all other relevant evidence in order to determine the next steps for the project, including examination of the information gained against the preferred route and the alternative options.

Highways England programme lead Alan Feist said:

It is clear that improving the A27 at Arundel is a priority for local people, and we at Highways England have been working hard to develop our proposals. Since the original consultation, our continued work has established important new information about each of the options and we have decided that we will run a further consultation next year to seek people’s views on the proposals in light of that new information.

The Arundel bypass scheme remains a much-needed scheme with strong popular support which would improve journeys along the whole of the Sussex coast. Drivers on the A27 suffer daily delays and the congestion there holds back the whole region and pushes traffic into small, less suitable roads through the South Downs National Park. Highways England remains committed to finding a solution to this problem, which has blighted Sussex and communities across the south coast for decades.

The preferred route announcement we made last year remains in place, and we are defending the legal challenges that have been brought against it.

During the original consultation, Option 5a was the most popular option, supported by 48% of people who responded through the questionnaire.

Anyone interested in the scheme can sign up to receive updates via the project page

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.