Action group formed over new road plan

Their leader this week called the situation "crazy."

Ravenside retail and leisure park owners Land Securities won its battle to extend the park when the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister ruled last November that the scheme would not have a "significant impact" on the A259 De La Warr Road.

Local residents had objected to the scheme when it came before Rother planners.

The old Drallim factory in Brett Drive has been demolished and the firm re-located to Hastings in a move that will see a major extension to Tesco's Ravenside store, the construction of three new stores on the factory site and the building of a drive-through KFC restaurant fronting De La Warr Road.

But what now concerns objectors is the effect on the already-congested trunk road.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has given the go-ahead not only for changes to Glyne Gap roundabout but for new traffic lights in De La Warr Road to allow traffic from Ravenside to exit via Brett Drive.

The project road changes could be in place by September and would mean that, within the space of half a mile, trunk road traffic would be subject to:

*Two sets of traffic lights

*Two sets of pedestrian crossings

*A roundabout handling 32,000 vehicle movements every 24 hours

The six-member group headed by Rother member Cllr Stuart Wood has booked Bexhill Amateur Athletic Community Association's Little Common Road sports centre for the Friday, April 30 7.30pm meeting.

They hope to have a representative from the county highways department present to answer the public's questions on the effects. Cllr Wood, a member of the minority Liberal Democrat group on Rother, said: "We are trying to highlight what is going on. We are trying to keep it non party-political.

"But what is happening down there is plain crazy - traffic barely moves for much of the day as it is. This will bring it to a complete standstill.

"It is all very well saying we are going to have a Link Road to Hastings.

"But that is not going to happen for a long time, five years or more - and who knows then if this is going to remove all the through-traffic from Glyne Gap?

"This scheme is going to be in place by September.

"Everyone is saying it's crazy but there has been no public debate on it. The public haven't had a chance to air their views or to ask questions.

"We really want to give the public the chance to air their views."