1 Scheme overview
West Sussex County Council is currently developing a major road enhancement scheme for the corridor of the A259 between Bognor Regis and Littlehampton in Arun District. The scheme is one of the short-term major road enhancements with active travel infrastructure priority schemes in the current West Sussex Transport Plan.
In late 2021 the Department for Transport approved the strategic business case for the scheme and provided grant funding to the county council to develop the scheme up to the point of an outline business case and planning application submissions. The Department for Transport approved the outline business case (or funding bid) for the scheme in 2025 and provided further grant funding to develop the scheme up to the point of a full business case submission.
The location of the scheme is between and including the B2132 Yapton Road (Comet Corner) junction and the B2187 Bridge Road (Tesco’s) junction.
The key objectives of the scheme is to:
- enhance the conditions for walking, cycling and bus travel (and encouraging the switch from car use) for non-motorised users
- improve road safety record and journey time reliability along the A259 corridor between Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
- increase junction capacity to support economic development including the delivery of strategic development sites identified in the Arun Local Plan
2 Latest update
The Department for Transport approved the outline business case (or funding bid) for the scheme on 15 April 2025.
The county council is finalising the full business case for submission to the Department for Transport. Subject to the approval of the full business case the scheme will become fully funded.
As part of the preparation for the works, planning applications are required for Comet Corner junction and Oystercatcher junction.
The Comet Corner planning application (WSCC/030/25) was submitted on 20 August 2025 and a decision is due in April 2026. Oystercatcher planning application is being prepared for submission in April 2026.
The detailed design the scheme has been completed. The programme of works and cost estimate are currently being finalised.
Work start dates and the order of works will be confirmed once the decision is received on the full business case.
3 Public consultation documents
The 2023 public consultation summary results are available below:
4 Timelines
The indicative timelines for the scheme are:
- submission of outline business case (funding bid phase 1) - October 2023
- Department for Transport’s approval of outline business case - April 2025
- Comet Corner planning submission - August 2025
- Oystercatcher planning submission - April 2026
- submission of full business case (funding bid phase 2) - September 2026
- Department for Transport approval of outline business case - To be confirmed
- construction start - To be confirmed
This will be updated as dates and timelines are confirmed.