Stockbridge Road closure highlights need for A27 investment

Jess Brown-Fuller, Member of Parliament for Chichester, highlighted the ongoing need for A27 investment in response to the growing congestion on the Manhood Peninsula, as gas works along Stockbridge Road continue to cause havoc across the area. 

In a letter to the Department for Transport, Jess explained that the gas works were urgently needed to prevent gas leaks but told Ministers that, with limited ways on and off the Peninsula, congestion in this coastal community would only worsen as new housing developments are constructed alongside the A27. 

The A27 is the only east-west trunk road south of the M25, and serves a population of over 750,000 people. The road runs from Pevensey in the east to Portsmouth in the West, and serves the nearby towns of Havant, Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, and Worthing. 

In her letter, Jess said:  

 “New Government housing targets require that over three thousand homes will have to be built in Chichester District over the next five years. Yet in April this year, the same Government completely removed A27 improvement plans from its Road Investment Strategy. This oversight means that A27 capacity will only deteriorate over the coming years, unless action is taken from Government.

"One constituent living in Selsey reached out to me complaining that it is now taking her an hour and a half to drive a six mile journey due to the current disruption. How can we claim to have a twenty-first century road network with these travel times?”

Jess Brown-Fuller MP's letter to the Secretary of State

Following the letter, Jess said: 

"The current eye-watering congestion seen along the A27 and the Manhood is a sign of what is to come, if the Government continues to dither and delay on funding A27 improvements. 

"I have consistently talked about the stranglehold that this motorway has on Chichester and our rural communities, and residents are sick of feeling the squeeze. This Government cannot, like its predecessors, keep kicking this can down the road, and I will not rest until they give the A27 the funding it so desperately needs."