Support a sustainable A27 alternative

Highways England will soon begin to decide how to improve road travel between Lewes and Polegate. Campaigning network SCATE has put forward what it believes is a far more environmentally-friendly alternative to building a completely new road. But it needs your support to make it happen.

Despite extensive local objection, says SCATE, Highways England are considering several options for a completely new dual carriageway through the countryside immediately north of the existing A27 between Lewes and Polegate.

Highways England claim that this will relieve congestion and that there is a business case for its construction, despite the irreparable loss of landscape and biodiversity that will occur, and the fact that it will not solve the real congestion issue which occurs at either end of the existing road.  The minimum cost of building a new dual carriageway is estimated at £500 million.

An alternative plan
SCATE (South Coast Alliance for Transport and the Environment) believes that improving the existing A27 between Lewes and Polegate is the only sustainable way forward – and could also improve road safety on this accident-prone route in years rather than decades. You can read its proposals and why it believes a new dual carriageway isn’t the solution in the PDF here.

Design competition
SCATE has also launched a design competition with New Civil Engineer magazine to seek alternative solutions, based on upgrading the existing A27 as part of a multi-modal transport proposal.  Details of the competition can be found here.

How you can help
If you’d like to support SCATE’s campaign to fight against a new dual carriageway between Lewes and Polegate:

• Donate to the campaign at:
  https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/scateeastsussex

• Write to or email the following people:
  
  Grant Shapps – The Transport Secretary
  Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR
  shapps@dft.gov.uk

Baroness Vere of Norbiton – Minister for Roads, Buses & Places
Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR
baroness.vere@dft.gov.uk

Keith Glazier – Leader of East Sussex County Council
County Hall, St Anne’s Crescent, Lewes, BN7 1UE
cllr.keith.glazier@eastsussex.gov.uk

Maria Caulfield – MP for Lewes
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
maria.caulfield.mp@parliament.uk