VOTE: Councillors demand a bridge over railway line

The bridge over the railway line would stop the town’s economic life being strangled by the long delays at the Woodgate level crossing.

It has been put forward as a possible priority for Arun District Council to fund through a new initiative to be financed under the new local government regime.

The multi-million pound cost of the bridge and bypass for the Woodgate area could partly be met from the new homes bonus which the council will soon receive from central government as well as extra money from business rates and for encouraging new firms.

A list of possible priorities and other funding sources will be compiled by council officers and given to councillors to consider after they unanimously agreed to the initiative at their annual state of the district debate.

They will be asked to choose three schemes to back when the council’s next budget is set in early 2011.

Jim Brooks (Bognor Marine) said the improvement along Bognor’s main road link to the north was essential if the town was to prosper. He spoke of two mile long morning traffic queues along the A29 from the Lec site to the level crossing.

“No-one would invest in a town under those circumstances. Anything we are doing under the heading of regeneration means nothing until we have that road,” he said.

He accused those in the villages who opposed a flyover because of possible extra homes to help to pay for it of being ‘Nimbys’.

Cllr Simon McDougall (Bersted) said it was essential to link the remaining industrial areas around Bognor with the A27 to promote economic growth.

Proposals for an A29 flyover to remove the logjams caused by the Woodgate level crossing have been put forward for at least two decades.

But they have always floundered because of the cost involved.