Unacceptable Roads Policies
As East Sussex County Council (ESCC) announces yet further delays to the completion of the A21–Queensway link road, the Secretary of State for Transport has castigated the Conservative-controlled council for reducing the amount of money spent on road repairs, calling the decision ‘unacceptable’.
An ESCC statement said that the Queensway link, dubbed the ‘road to nowhere’–due to be finished by the end of August–is not now ‘scheduled to open to the public until September’. In the meantime there will be more misery for motorists with overnight closures on Sedlescombe Road North seven nights a week and single lane access and temporary traffic lights the remainder of the time. The project has been ongoing since 2016, with promises of completion by Christmas 2024 pushed back throughout this year.
Meanwhile the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander MP has strongly criticised ESCC for plans to cut £116 million from its highways maintenance budget, and to spend £6 million less on pothole repairs when it had actually received an additional £5 million from the Government.
Phil Scott, a Labour member of ESCC, described the decision as ‘baffling’. He said “It makes no sense for the Conservative-led council to do even less to fix potholes”. The Transport Secretary said that “repairing roads that were neglected under the last Conservative government is essential to boosting growth and opportunities”.
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