'˜Utter dismay' expressed by district councillors to own leader's A27 proposal

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A group of district councils have expressed their '˜utter dismay' at their leader's proposal for Chichester's A27.

At a recent A27 community workshop there was uproar when leader Tony Dignum stood up and proposed a variation of Option 2, that he said had been endorsed by fellow councillors in a straw poll at an earlier meeting.

It followed a meeting on July 24 between district and county council leaders at which Highways England’s CEO, Jim O’Sullivan, said funding for Chichester could be reinstated but suggested only if there was support for one of its online options.

In a letter to fellow district councillors, cllrs Christopher Page, Keith Martin, Graeme Barrett and Jonathan Brown expressed their ‘utter dismay’ that it took more than two weeks to report the July 24 meeting to the council, ‘at which time we were presented with a ridiculously short timescale either to accept one of their previously roundly rejected options, or lose the money’.

The last WSCC-led A27 workshop descended into acrimony. The next meeting is due on Monday, August 21

“The leader apparently accepted without demur the threats and opinions of HE’s CEO’, the letter states, asking why Mr O’Sullivan’s statements that it was ‘unlikely’ funding for Chichester could not be found in RIS2, and that offline options were ‘being discouraged’ were accepted as undeliverable.

Mr Dignum has told the Observer both he and CDC’s CEO would respond after returning from holiday.

The letter also questioned why a northern route could not be pursued quickly when options were fully designed before being dropped by Highways ahead of the public consultations last summer.