Over the summer I have held 17 meetings to discuss the A27. These included two with the Roads Minister, four with Highways England, three with the community group Build a Better A27 and the rest with West Sussex County Council and Chichester District Council.
In July the Government offered to ‘uncancel’ the funding for improvements to the A27, based on the use of a previously proposed Option 2. This would mean the improvements under RIS1 would go ahead with an investment of £250m. This was under the condition that councils and the community were in broad agreement that this is what they wanted.
I have been trying to understand what our alternatives are if we are not united around this Option. The most likely is we move into RIS 2 which is the next budget cycle. This will open in about one year from now. To be considered in this budget we would have to agree on a solution before Easter next year – this gives us a bit longer to find the best, or more likely, least worst option. There are risks to this approach – we have to compete with other schemes throughout England. We will also still have budget constraints which will restrict our options. However, Highways England have agreed to work with us to find a solution and support us in our bid for this budget and of course I will be supporting our bid for the budget. Both WSCC and CDC are meeting this week to determine whether we are in a position to move forward with RIS 1 or will we be better served by spending more time to get a better solution in RIS 2 – a tough decision for sure.
