Press release: nearly 250 people sign petition to demand no more public funds for NBAR

April 11, 2016 by combehavendefenders

Press release
Combe Haven Defenders [1]
Monday 11 April

Contact 07565 967 250

Photos: Local residents on the route of the North Bexhill Access Road: http://tinyurl.com/zgrj8mf; treefelling near Buckholt Lane for the NBAR, March 2016: http://tinyurl.com/jqkhwxb

NEARLY 250 PEOPLE SIGN PETITION TO DEMAND NO MORE PUBLIC FUNDS FOR THE NORTH BEXHILL ACCESS ROAD

Nearly 250 people have signed a petition demanding that no more public money should be allocated to the controversial North Bexhill Access Road (NBAR).

The petition, set up by environmental group Combe Haven Defenders on the 38 Degrees website [2], is addressed jointly to Christian Brodie, chair of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) – which has already promised £16.6m in funding for the NBAR [3] – and to Keith Glazier, leader of East Sussex County Council.

Combe Haven Defenders say they believe that the predicted cost of the road may have been underplayed by developer SeaChange Sussex in order to secure funding. They point out that at 2.4km long, the NBAR would cost £6.9m/km. By comparison, the 5.6km Bexhill Hastings Link Road is currently predicted to cost £124.3m, or £22.2m/km – this is very close to the average cost of new roads, according to research by Campaign for Better Transport [4]. In other words, SeaChange is claiming that per kilometre, the NBAR will work out at less than a third of the cost of the link road.

Planning permission for the NBAR was granted by Rother District Council in February [5]. The road would run west from a roundabout junction with the Bexhill Hastings Link Road near Glover’s Farm, to join the A269 near Freezeland Lane. It would allow the entire area of countryside between the new road and the A269 to be infilled with business parks and housing.

Spokesperson for Combe Haven Defenders, Andrea Needham, said, ‘We believe there is a very strong case to be made that SeaChange has deliberately played down the likely cost of the NBAR in order to secure funding. We simply do not believe that the road can be built for less than a third of the per kilometre cost of the link road. We are concerned that once the project is underway, SeaChange will come back to SELEP or to East Sussex County Council for more funding. Our petition demands that SELEP and ESCC give a firm commitment not to allocate a single penny more of public money to this destructive road.’

The petition can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/jbhqdj4

Contact: 07565 967 250

Notes

[1] www.combehavendefenders.org.uk

[2] http://tinyurl.com/jbhqdj4

[3] http://seachangesussex.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/NBAR-being-funded-from-QGR-p63.pdf – see point 4 on page 4 (£7.6m) and point 4.9 on page 63 (£9m) – total = £16.6m

[4] http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/files/research-files/Roads_to_Nowhere_October2012_web_spreads_0.pdf – see page 4: average cost per metre of new roads £24,650 (ie £24.6m/km).

[5] https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/5048/