UPDATE: "Shameful Blaming Of Residents": Pulborough Villagers Call For Urgent Review Of A29 Landslide

Pulborough parish councillors and villagers call for urgent review of A29 road closure accusing Highways department of ‘incompetence’ and ‘shameful blaming of residents’.

A large group of villagers including five parish councillors gathered at the site of the A29 landslip this week (Monday, March 14) to show their anger at West Sussex County Council’s continuing lack of action on re-opening the vital road.

The road has been closed since late December – 11 weeks ago. WSCC says it is still negotiating with landowners on the closed section and won't start work until those talks are completed.

But parish councillor and local trader Elizabeth Hunt has written to WSCC CEO Becky Shaw and the Council leader Paul Marshall to ask them to stop the highways team blaming others to hide their own failures.

"Blaming the Church Hill landowners is not only unjust, as this fiasco has been created by incompetence within WSCC Highways department, but it is harmful to the landowners who are being subjected to abuse both on and offline.

"Experienced engineers have highlighted that several actions could have been taken from the first week of the emergency that would have ensured a prompt and safe re- opening of the road. For a ’simple fix’, in the words of the Assistant Director of Highways, to remain unactioned 11 weeks on from the incident is diabolical."

Ms Hunt and other parish councillors are calling for an urgent review of how what should have been a relatively minor landslip has become a major economic and safety issue for the village of Pulborough.

Fellow parish councillor Len Ellis-Brown said:

“WSCC should stop blaming local residents and do more to sort out this major problem for our community”.

One local resident, Andrew Moffatt, went further demanding resignations: 

“I think the head of Sussex Highways should be sacked. There’ve been a series of shambolic road repair issues at Wiston bends, then Duncton and this time at Pulborough which is beyond shambolic.”

Local businesses that have been badly disrupted by the road closure - some facing up to 80% loss in earnings – joined residents for the impromptu gathering.

Matthew Hennings, Managing Director of Hennings Wine merchants said:

“At the public meeting the Highways officer said several times this was not an issue about money or liability but if that was true why have they not been able to get this road open by now?”

“Footfall to our shop is 20% down and our drivers are needing to spend a lot longer navigating unsuitable roads to get in and out of our warehouse. It is dangerous and unacceptable that this has gone on for so long. We need the road open to two-way traffic within the two weeks promised – creating a one-way solution with traffic lights would harm our businesses even more.”

Alison Howard, Hennings Company Secretary and a local resident said she was most worried about pedestrian safety:

"My mother is in her 80s and feels really unsafe - ambulances would struggle in an emergency and there are no safe pedestrian routes.”

Local resident Jane Mote, who was among a delegation that lobbied councillors attending the Highways Scrutiny committee at County Hall last week, said:

“The Council officers and County Councillors responsible for Highways keep fobbing us off with promises that things will change soon and yet they are nowhere to be seen. Their shameful blaming of residents represents a shocking abdication of responsibilities.”

The parish council will be debating the issue at their meeting this Thursday night. Residents are promising to organise even bigger gatherings to try to force WSCC to fix the road.

Read the council's full press release following its meeting with residents at the beginning of March, here:

https://www.moreradio.online/news/sussex-news/council-reassures-frustrated-residents-over-a29-closure-following-landslide/

West Sussex County Council have been approached for comment.

UPDATE Friday, March 17

Statement from West Sussex County Council

We fully appreciate the frustrations felt by local residents about the ongoing situation and the resulting inconvenience along with the hardship felt by some businesses in the area.

We must stress that it is only the carriageway which is within the County Council’s control. The land either side of the carriageway, which is what has caused the issue and where the required works must take place to allow the safe re-opening of the road, is not adopted highway land and is owned by private landowners. In order to carry out the required works we must have permission from the landowners, without that we are unable to legally begin works. If we cannot come to an agreement, we have an option to serve notice on the landowners for them to undertake the work, but the advice received has been that such notice cannot be served until negotiations on an agreement have been exhausted.

 As such, we feel that it is best to come to an agreement with the landowners to allow us onto their land to undertake the works to re-open the road to two-way traffic and are working hard to reach an agreement which is acceptable to all parties. This has resulted in a longer than anticipated timeline, however these discussions are ongoing and are productive.  It is appropriate that before we utilise any statutory powers to enter the land and do the works, we must allow sufficient time for the landowners to fully explore the implications on their property and understand what is required before they come to an agreement with us.

 We have always been very careful in how we communicate regarding the situation between us and the landowners, being extremely conscious of how difficult it has been for them in relation to the requirement to get the road open and the concerns they have in regards to the land they own which has slipped and remains unstable.

We understand the calls from residents and businesses to re-open the road, even with a temporary measure which opens the road using a single lane controlled by two-way traffic lights. If we were to go ahead and install this temporary measure which utilises concrete blocks to create a single lane down the centre of the road, then once an agreement has been made with the landowners, we would then need to re-close the road, and reinstate the diversion route. 

 We continue to give this very careful consideration, however believe that this would result in potential confusion for road users caused by the change in status to the road and it would create even more inconvenience locally due to traffic being required to queue at the lights which will then cause issues on other roads in Pulborough.

 We are working hard to reach an agreement with the landowners so we can progress with implementation of the interim works to reopen the road while a permanent solution is developed and designed and agreed with all relevant parties.