Angry residents oppose “Gateway Road” proposal

May 22, 2013 by combehavendefenders

Local residents take to the Ridge on Thursday 16 May to highlight the predicted 26% increase in traffic if the Link Road is built.

Press release
22 May 2013
Combe Haven Defenders [1]

ANGRY RESIDENTS OPPOSE “GATEWAY ROAD” PROPOSAL
Stall gathers over 130 objections in just four hours as Seachange CEO refuses to reveal cost of project

Angry local residents have already submitted over 130 objections to Seachange Sussex’s planning application for a “Gateway Road” joining the £100m Bexhill-Hastings Link Road to Wrestwood Road in Bexhill.

Grounds for the objections – which were gathered in just four hours at a stall held in Devonshire Road last Friday (17 May) and Saturday (18 May) – included “loss of greenfield land”, “increased carbon emissions”, “damages to wildlife habitat”, “loss of amenity areas” and “not fitting in with the character of the area”.

Seachange Sussex submitted a planning application [2] for the so-called “Gateway Road” – a key step in developers’ long-term plans to build a 50,000 m2  “business park” [3] north east of Bexhill and a massive housing complex north west of Pebsham [4] – on 30 April 2013. Objections to the application – which can be submitted through http://tinyurl.com/gatewayroadobjections – must be submitted no later than 31 May 2013.

Andrea Needham, a spokesperson for the Combe Haven Defenders, said: “The land on which this “Gateway Road” would be built – like the land that would be built upon in the next phase of development – is all owned by Trinity College Cambridge [4], the richest of the Oxbridge Colleges. How much they will be paid for this land has not been revealed. Moreover, in a recent meeting with opponents of the Link Road that I attended, Seachange CEO John Shaw refused to say how much the “Gateway Road” would cost, or where the money would come from – and he did not rule out accepting public funds.”

In other news, members and friends of local group Grannies Are in Action (GAIA) took to the Ridge last Thursday (16 May), to highlight the predicted 26% increase in traffic [5] if the Link Road is built. The Combe Haven Defenders will also be holding a spring walk in the Combe Haven valley this Sunday (26 May): meet 2pm, Crowhurst recreation ground.

[1] http://www.combehavendefenders.org.uk
[2] http://ocellaweb.rother.gov.uk/portal/pls/portal/ROTHERWEB.RPT_DETAILS.show?p_arg_names=reference&p_arg_values=RR/2013/899/P
[3] See pages 15 and 17 of http://ocellaweb.rother.gov.uk/images/dv_pl_files/RR_2013_899_P/RR_2013_899_P-SI_1.pdf
[4] https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/trinity-college-cashing-in-on-the-link-road/
[5] See p.11 of https://combehavendefenders.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/ha-07-1.pdf