Roads masterplan for Bognor to be set up

The comprehensive work is intended to provide a long-term vision for traffic movement within and across the town.

Backing for the idea has been given by Arun District Council's Bognor Regis sub-committee. But members complained that it had taken so long to get started.

They expressed their unhappiness at the delay while the rest of the regeneration efforts had gathered pace.

After the meeting, Bognor councillor Paul Wells said: "I am absolutely staggered that work on the transport masterplan has not yet started. This is such an intergral part of the plans for the town."

Work on the masterplan will be carried out by county council officers as the highways representatives as well as district council officials. The document is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

Arun's Bognor regeneration task force co-ordinator, Richard McMann, said: "The scale and extent of the Bognor regeneration programme is such that each development project or proposal not only creates an impact of its own but also contributes to the collective, wider reaching and cumulative effect of development across the town."

Preparation on the masterplan is starting well after traffic consultants for developer St Modwen are developing a transport model for Bognor.

This will test the impact of development on the Regis Centre and Hothamton sites.

This information will be used to prepare the Bognor town centre traffic management plan as part of the masterplan.

The management plan will look at how to manage the effects of the road changes needed to close The Esplanade between Waterloo Square and Belmont Street as St Modwen has proposed.

This includes accommodating displaced traffic on alternative routes, retaining access to residential and business properties and providing a more pleasant environment for pedestrians and cyclists.

The need to promote all means of transport will also feature in the management plan.

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