A27 Worthing Consultation
September 27, 2017
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A27 Worthing Consultation – SDNPA Response
Statement by Andrew Lee, Director of Countryside Policy and Management, South Downs National Park Authority
“The SDNPA would have preferred to see enhanced opportunities for access improvements across the A27. This would allow those people who would wish to access the National Park to be able to do so more easily than at present.
“The SDNPA would also like Highways England to reconsider its design for the junction at Busticle Lane, as this will be a permanent take of land from the national park for what is probably a temporary solution for the traffic issues.
All public bodies, including Highways England, must have regard to the purposes of National Parks as they go about their work. National planning guidance states that ‘major development’ (which would include building or widening trunk roads) in a National Park is unacceptable unless there is an overriding national interest and no alternatives are possible. All the routes proposed would go through parts of the National Park and we will be assessing their relative impacts upon it. The SDNPA has a clear position statement on the approach it will adopt to all proposals for upgrading sections of the A27 and this has guided all our work on this issue.”