Lyminster Bypass
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Ref No: HT 16 (15/16) Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport Key Decision: Yes Lyminster Bypass (north) - Approval to undertake Part I statutory processes to acquire land for scheme construction Electoral Report by Executive Director Residents’ Services Divisions: and Director of Highways and Transport Arundel & Wick and Littlehampton Town Executive Summary West Sussex County Council is promoting the delivery of the Lyminster Bypass scheme, which involves the design and construction of a new bypass of the A284 Lyminster Road between Lyminster village and Toddington Nurseries to the north of Littlehampton. This scheme will form the northern section of a new 1.8km bypass of the A284 between Lyminster village and the A259 Worthing Rd to the south. The southern section (between A259 and Toddington Nurseries) is being delivered separately by developers. The bypass will provide strategic north-south access to Littlehampton for residents and businesses by improving accessibility and connectivity to the A27 at Crossbush, while addressing congestion and journey time reliability issues caused by the level crossing at Wick. Safety benefits will also be realised by removing traffic from the existing congested route through Lyminster and Wick. The route of the bypass has been safeguarded under Policy DEV15 of the Arun District Local Plan which was adopted in 2003 and was previously adopted by WSCC as an approved highway line in September 1992. The total scheme cost estimate is £9.27m and is being funded as follows: • Developer Contributions: £3.76m • Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP): £3m • West Sussex County Council: £2.51m £1.372m of developer contributions has been received by WSCC and £0.525m of this amount has been spent on scheme preparation. WSCC has also spent £0.087m of its own funding on scheme preparation. £0.847m of the developer contributions is available to be spent on the scheme. However, £2.39m of the remaining developer contributions will not be received for up to 11 years due to the phasing of payments in the signed S106 agreements. Therefore, the County Council is making budgetary provision in the capital programmes for 2016/17 and 2017/18 to forward fund this element of the developer contributions. In addition to this, the County Council is also making budgetary provision in the capital programmes for 2016/17 and 2017/18 to finance a £2.42m shortfall in the scheme funding. The Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has provisionally allocated £3m to the scheme to be spent in the 2015-2019 spending review period, which is subject to confirmation of deliverability and value for money through preparation of a business case. The forecast reduction of journey times and other benefits contribute to the scheme achieving a benefit cost ratio of 30.4, which is very high and demonstrates the scheme is very good value for money. Recommendations 1. That, subject to final funding approval being received from the Coast to Capital LEP, the County Council makes a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) under Sections 239, 240, 242, 246 and 250, of the Highways Act 1980 for the acquisition of the land and new rights within the areas shown on the attached plan No. 6006164/008 (in Appendix 1) for the purpose of constructing the Lyminster Bypass. 2. That the Director of Law Assurance and Strategy be authorised to: • take all necessary steps to secure the making, confirmation and implementation of the CPO including the publication and service of all notices and the presentation of the Council's case at any Public Inquiry; • acquire interests in land and new rights within the CPO either by agreements or compulsorily; and • approve agreements with land owners setting out the terms for the withdrawal of objections to the Order, including where appropriate seeking exclusion of land or new rights from the Order. 1. Background and Context 1.1 West Sussex County Council is promoting the delivery of the Lyminster Bypass scheme, which involves the design and construction of a new bypass of the A284 Lyminster Road between Lyminster village and Toddington Nurseries to the north of Littlehampton. This scheme will form the northern section of a new 1.8km bypass of the A284 between Lyminster village and the A259 Worthing Rd to the south, bridging the railway line at Toddington. The southern section (between A259 and Toddington Nurseries) is being delivered by private developers as part of the North Littlehampton Strategic Development (See Figure 1, Site Location Plan). This section of the bypass is currently at the preliminary design stage and is due to be completed by the time the 350th house is sold. 1.2 The bypass seeks to provide strategic north-south access to Littlehampton for residents and businesses by improving accessibility and connectivity to the A27. It also addresses congestion and journey time reliability issues caused by the level crossing gate down time at Wick by providing an alternative route which is not hindered by the level crossing. Safety benefits will also be realised by removing traffic from the existing congested route through Lyminster and Wick. Both the Arun Local Plan and the West Sussex Transport Plan include an aspiration to deliver improvements in strategic transport access between Littlehampton and the A27 to support regeneration of Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. 1.3 The route of the bypass has been safeguarded under Policy DEV15 of the Arun District Local Plan 2003. The route was previously adopted by WSCC as an approved highway line in September 1992 and included in the West Sussex Structure Plan 2001/2016, which was the keystone of the statutory Development Plan for West Sussex under a previous planning system. Though the Structure Plan has no formal status in the current planning system, it remains a strategic policy statement for future development. The plan provides strategic context for WSCC’s views on land use and transport. 1.4 Following completion of preliminary designs, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Business Case development for the scheme in October 2014, the Cabinet Member approved the decision, HT16 (2014/15) of November 2014, which authorised officers to: • submit a funding bid to the LEP, • make a planning application for the scheme, • initiate the necessary procedures for the acquisition of land required for the scheme. 2 Consultation The following are the key stakeholders who have been consulted to date: 2.1 Members • North Littlehampton Members Steering Group – Membership comprises the local County Councillors, Arun District Councillors and Littlehampton Town Councillors. It is chaired by Arun District Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Infrastructure. Members have been consulted on an on-going basis since the inception of the scheme and they support the proposals. • Joint Downland Area Committee - covers the villages of Clymping, Findon, Clapham, Patching and the Arundel Area and consists of 4 County Councillors, 6 District Councillors and 20 Town/Parish Council representatives. The Committee is regularly provided with updates on the scheme. • Lyminster and Crossbush Parish Council – Broadly supportive of the scheme, but have some concern about lack of relief to some residential properties on A284 to the north of the bypass tie-in to the existing A284 and impact on congestion at the A284/A27 Crossbush junction. 2.2 External • Highways England (HE) – Responsible for operation and maintenance of the A27 and the A284/A27 Crossbush junction and there is a clear interaction between the operation of the A27 at Crossbush and the A284 Lyminster Bypass, so support from the HE is crucial. Dialogue has been maintained with the HE regarding the status of the bypass assessment and proposed improvements at Crossbush. The Department for Transport (DfT) has undertaken an A27 Corridor Feasibility Study considering options to address long- standing congestion issues at Arundel, Worthing and Lancing among others. As a follow up to this study, the Government announced investment worth around £350 million as part of the Road Investment Strategy in December 2014. The recommendations for Arundel include the proposal for a new dual carriageway bypass to link together the two existing dual carriageway sections of the road. The starting point will be the previous preferred route and will be subject to consultation with the National Park Authority, local government and the public on this and alternative options. The HE had previously identified two options for improvements to the A284/A27 Crossbush junction which could come forward in the future as a short-term measure (if necessary), to cater for additional traffic rerouting via the A284 Lyminster Bypass. • Coast to Capital LEP –Supports the scheme and is responsible for delivering economic growth and job creation in areas including West Sussex and administering the spending of local growth funding allocated by central Government. • Arun District Council – Local Authority for the district in which the proposed Lyminster Bypass is located. Supports the scheme, as the bypass will improve quality of life for Lyminster residents, facilitate delivery of the North Littlehampton Strategic Development site (SDL) and reduce journey times into the district. • Persimmon Homes - Private developer delivering the housing at North Littlehampton SDL. Consent has been granted for proposals, but full bypass is required to deliver full complement of housing. • Burton Property – Private developer delivering the commercial parts of the North Littlehampton SDL for landowner, Greencore, pending sale to a commercial property developer. Has advised that delivery of the full bypass will support the viability of the commercial development. • Network Rail – Affected due to change of traffic flows at Wick level crossing, with the potential to close it to improve safety and reduce maintenance costs. They have expressed support for the scheme in principle. However they do not wish to consider the closure of Wick Level Crossing at this time and would like to revisit the issue in future when the West Coastway rail line is re-signalled.