Four junctions along a nine mile section of the A27 between Lewes and Polegate will be improved, a section of the Polegate bypass will be upgraded to a dual carriageway and walking and cycling facilities along the whole stretch will be enhanced.

The plans were put to the public last year, with 78 per cent of respondents backing the need for improvements. Today, (Tuesday 26 September) Highways England has announced the results of the consultation and the preferred options being taken forward at each location.

Highways England Project Manager Tom Beasley said:

I would like to thank everyone who took part in our consultation. It’s great to see that there is such strong backing for improvements to this section of the A27, and there were some really good ideas put forward. People’s input has helped to shape our plans and we’ve made some key changes to our proposals to make sure they deliver the biggest benefit. In particular we’ve prioritised improvements at Polegate including the Gainsborough Lane junction, over the Selmeston bypass option and introduced a new enhanced option for upgrading the Wilmington junction – all as a result of people’s input. There will be an opportunity for people to see more detailed plans when we present the final designs at public exhibition events next year.

The plans include:

• widening Drusillas Roundabout to improve journeys along the A27 and for north-south traffic at the junction
• a new option for upgrading Wilmington junction, making it easier for drivers to join or leave the A27 and including a horse rider and cycle friendly Pegasus crossing
• widening a half a mile section of the A27 between the Polegate interchange and the Cophall roundabout to a dual carriageway, and an upgraded, signalised junction at Polegate
• near to the Polegate interchange, as a result of the consultation, introducing new proposals for upgrading the Gainsborough Lane junction by providing a right turn facility
• significant enhancements to the walking and cycle routes along this nine mile stretch of the A27, including a new pedestrian and cycle path between Firle and Polegate

Proposals to upgrade Selmeston junction have been withdrawn after no options could be found that would deliver a worthwhile benefit without having an unacceptable impact on the South Downs national park.

The proposed plans will help to make journeys more reliable, ease congestion and improve safety along this section of the A27, especially at the key pinch points in Polegate and Wilmington. They are part of the Government’s record £15bn investment in roads between 2015 and 2020, which is improving people’s journeys, making roads safer and boosting the economy.

A public consultation on the options was held from 27 October to 8 December 2016. A total of 1,140 responses were received during this consultation. Ten events were held at venues near the A27 east of Lewes scheme corridor for the public and stakeholders including local authorities, landowners and businesses, with over 1,000 people attending the events.

78% of people who responded to the consultation questionnaire said they are very concerned about road safety, with 70% very concerned about congestion or delays at junctions.

A copy of the consultation report and announcement flyer can be found on the Highways England website.

Anyone interested in the scheme can sign up to receive updates via the (project page)[http://www.highways.gov.uk/A27EastofLewes] on the Highways England website where they can also see visualisations outlining the preferred options.

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.

Ricky Yan Kay Sum, director of Yat Yeen Limited, which traded under the name of Chung Ku, also failed to pay the under-declared VAT.

Sum has given an undertaking to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, which prevents him from becoming directly or indirectly involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company for five years from 27 June 2017.

The business went into liquidation on 22 July 2015 owing £50,606 to its creditors. The Insolvency Service’s investigation concluded Sum had under-declared the takeaway’s sales and VAT to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and failed to pay HMRC the VAT which was properly due and payable.

Commenting on the disqualification, Robert Clarke, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Under-declaration of sales deprives the exchequer of vital funds for public services. In co-operation with HMRC, the Insolvency Service will not hesitate to investigate such misconduct with disqualification as a director the probable consequence.

Notes to editors

Yat Yeen Limited (CRO No.07239896) was incorporated on 30 April 2010. Yat Yeen traded from 564 Warrington Road, Rainhill L35 4LZ, with its registered office being at Hanover House, Hanover Street, Liverpool L1 3DZ.

Ricky Yan Kay Sum (born February 1976) was the sole formally appointed director between 30 April 2010 and liquidation.

Yat Yeen went into Liquidation on 22 July 2015. On 6 June 2017 the Secretary of State accepted a Disqualification Undertaking from Sum effective from 27 June 2017, for five years.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/corporate-insolvency-effect-of-a-disqualification-order).

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures.

The agency also authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/insolvency-service).

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The UK’s interactive installation at the ‘Future Energy’ Expo 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan has won a silver exhibition design award from the organising body of the global event, The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

An international jury composed of 9 members visited each pavilion of the 115 countries and 22 international organisations participating. In the larger pavilion category (more than 700 square metres), the UK Pavilion won silver.

The UK Pavilion, which was part of a wider UK showcase in the region, has also been voted runner up in the Best Pavilion category by Exhibitor magazine. For almost 30 years, Exhibitor magazine has been running the world’s most prestigious exhibit-design competition, honouring the very best of trade show exhibits. The structure was judged by an international panel of multidisciplinary design, marketing, and communications experts, with one judge citing it as:

Without a doubt the most unique of all the pavilions at Expo 2017.

The competition entries for both awards included pavilions representing countries from all over the world.

UK Pavilion designer Asif Khan commented:

Hearing that half a million people visited the UK Pavilion in just 3 months, and then finding out that we won silver medals in 2 of the pavilion awards has really touched me.

The impact of Expo 2017 on Kazakhstan will take years to fully comprehend at the country level, but my feeling is that if we opened up the imagination of even one Kazakh youngster, the aims of our project will be met.

Closer to home, our success really shows the value of UK government breaking from tradition and trusting new voices in design and architecture. I congratulate and am sincerely grateful to the huge team who enabled our project to become reality.

One of Exhibitor’s panel commented:

The United Kingdom’s artistic and interactive interpretation of a yurt was beautiful. The environment that element created was unique and powerful. The structure was like a rare and precious element that compels humans to gravitate toward it and interact with it. Touching the spokes was like playing a giant harp that wraps around you and emits light instead of music.

Asif Khan was part of a collaboration of British talent that included music legend Brian Eno. It highlighted UK innovations and discoveries that have changed the way we live our lives and connect with others.

The UK Pavilion, supported by the Department for International Trade, shows the UK at its creative best and over the last 3 months has been sharing the UK’s brilliant scientific and engineering expertise across the energy and mining industries with the theme of ‘We are Energy’, exploring new ways to harness the various sources of energy that surround us and secure a greener future.

The Weybridge site is an internationally recognised veterinary research and laboratory testing facility. It has a remit to protect the nation from a wide range of diseases which can affect both livestock and in some instances, human health.

Most recently Weybridge tested several thousand samples for avian influenza following the outbreak of the H5N8 HPAI virus in farmed and wild birds found in the United Kingdom (UK) and across Europe in winter 2016/17. It was at the heart of the UK and European Union (EU) science response, providing scientific evidence and advice to government in controlling the outbreak.

Weybridge tackles disease on the farm, through the food chain to the consumer as is demonstrated by its work on food-borne bacteria such as Salmonella and E-coli. It undertakes a wide range of diagnostic and international trade testing, including rabies testing to confirm vaccination success under the Pet Travel Scheme. It is also at the forefront of research for bovine tuberculosis (TB) and undertakes vital work on the global problem of antimicrobial resistance.

APHA’s Chief Executive Officer Chris Hadkiss said:

I am very proud to be the Chief Executive of an agency which has a laboratory with such a long and prestigious history. The work carried out at the Weybridge site has earned great respect on a global level for the advances it has made in both veterinary and scientific research. Such an accomplishment is of course due to the very high calibre of staff who have worked and continue to work with such dedication.

Over the past 100 years the laboratory has continued to provide vital services to the nation during 2 world wars, has aided the eradication of major diseases within the UK such as rabies and foot and mouth disease, and has identified new diseases, including BSE in the 1980s. It continues to undertake vital research that will benefit both human and animal health in the UK and across the world.

UK Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens said:

The work of government and private veterinarians and the work undertaken at Weybridge is inextricably linked in protecting animals in agriculture, the food supply and human health. Just as 100 years ago, vets responding to suspicion of notifiable or new and emerging disease gather samples on farm, which are sent to Weybridge where vital testing and analysis takes place to reach a diagnosis.

The APHA’s Weybridge laboratory has an impressive record in responding quickly and effectively to new diseases in animals and significantly advancing our understanding of how we can control them. It is reassuring to know that this work still continues to this day and will do so into the future.

History

APHA’s central laboratory has been based at the same site since 1917, when it was known as the Addlestone Institute. The laboratory’s origins can however be traced back to 1894, when a veterinary diagnostic service was established in a single basement room at Whitehall, London. In 1917, the Addlestone Institute was run under the directorship of Sir Stewart Stockman, the Chief Veterinary Officer of the day, and was staffed by six veterinary officers and nine support staff.

The site continued to expand, particularly throughout the 1930s. It was at this time that TM Doyle, based at the laboratory, discovered a new disease in poultry which he named ‘Newcastle disease’, after it was detected on a farm in Newcastle upon Tyne.

During the Second World War, the number of staff almost doubled and women were employed at the laboratory for the first time. The laboratory played an important role in protecting the national food supply in helping to prevent diseases that could impact on animal production. In 1939 it also began an urgent programme for the mass production of anthrax vaccine and antiserum so the country would be able to respond to the threat of a biological warfare emergency.

More recent past achievements include eradicating swine fever in the 1960s, characterising the first case of BSE in the 1980s (and then in 2004 confirming the first case in the USA) and developing the first licensed vaccine for TB in badgers in 2009.

Today and the future

Today the laboratory continues to be at the forefront of veterinary research and diagnosis. There are around 800 people occupying the site, which includes teams not just from APHA but also other parts of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and its agencies who are specialists in science, policy making, administration and farm working.

In recognition of the vital work undertaken at Weybridge, APHA has recently secured £60m capital investment from the government to further develop the site as well as APHA’s regional Veterinary Investigation Centres.

Despite the passing of 100 years, APHA’s scientific aims remain much the same – that is to protect Great Britain against the threat and impact of a wide variety of animal diseases and other species risks, many of which affect humans.

To read more about the work undertaken at APHA’s Weybridge laboratory and its history take a look at the APHA science blog and the Government Veterinary Services blog.

As another academic year begins, freshers and university students are being warned of the possible dangers to their health from self-prescribing and self-medicating with powerful prescription medicines.

The purchasing of prescription only medicines such as anti-anxiety medicines and benzodiazepines outside the regulated supply chain remains prevalent despite repeated warnings against self-medication.

When buying medicines outside the regulated supply chain you risk ending up with potentially dangerous or useless unlicensed medicines sold by illegal online suppliers. It also increases the risk of being ripped off through credit card fraud or having your identity stolen.

MHRA is running the #FakeMeds campaign to help students protect their health and money, with tips on how to avoid potentially dangerous or useless medicines sold by illegal online suppliers.

MHRA Head of Enforcement, Alastair Jeffrey, said:

Purchasing medicines outside the regulated supply chain has inherent dangers as there is no assurance of quality and standards. Medicines purchased in this way could have the wrong active ingredient, no active ingredient, or indeed the incorrect dosage.

Prescription only medicines are, by their very nature, potent and should only be prescribed by a doctor or appropriate healthcare professional. We would advise people not to buy medicines from unregulated sources as they pose a danger to their health.

Self-diagnosis and self-medication can be dangerous. If you have a concern about your health, visit your GP, get a correct diagnosis and if medicines are prescribed, buy them from a legitimate source.

Be careful buying medicines online – criminals are known to exploit vulnerable people by supplying medicines through unregulated websites and stealing their credit card details.

Visit www.gov.uk/fakemeds for tips on buying medicines safely online and how to avoid unscrupulous sites.