1 Overview of the scheme
West Sussex County Council is responsible for delivering the northern half of the Lyminster Bypass, which will alleviate traffic issues through Lyminster village.
The bypass will link to the existing A284 from a point approximately 600m south of the A27 at Crossbush and join the privately developed section of the same proposed bypass at Toddington nurseries.
The proposed bypass will be a 7.3m wide single dual carriageway with verge on one side and a shared footway/cycleway facility on the other. The footway/cycleway will connect to existing and proposed facilities along the southern half of the bypass and A259.
The existing public bridleway will be maintained with a Pegasus Crossing, provided to ensure the safety of equestrians, cyclists and pedestrians.
A new viaduct will be constructed over Black Ditch and its associated flood plain to ensure that there is no increase in flood risk. The existing culvert will be extended at Brookfield Stream.
Surface water run-off from the proposed construction will discharge at greenfield run-off rates via the existing catchments.
As far as is possible, the scheme will be constructed off-line from the existing road network to minimise disruption to road users during the works.
Benefits of the bypass The benefits of constructing the proposed bypass encompass both local improvements and strategic objectives.
Locally, the bypass will alleviate traffic congestion through Wick and Lyminster. This will improve safety and the reliability of journey times as well as decreasing pollution levels through the village.
More strategically, the bypass is linked to the provision of 1,260 new homes and 700 new jobs.
With the improved cyclist and pedestrian facilities, it is hoped that more people will be encouraged to undertake local trips on foot or by bike.
2 Background
The A284 is an important north-south link road from the A27 at Crossbush, providing access to Littlehampton and, to a lesser extent, Bognor Regis.
Journey times and accessibility are affected by the Wick level crossing, which causes delays to traffic in both directions and can impact on the junction with the A259.
The bypass is proposed to improve safety and accessibility as well as contributing to regeneration in the Littlehampton and Bognor Regis areas.
Public engagement
A public consultation exercise was undertaken in September 2014 with 61% of respondents in favour of the scheme, although it is noted that 31% did not support the scheme and the remaining 9% did not express an opinion.
Residents were also consulted on two options for the tie-in of the existing A284 to the proposed bypass with:
- Option 1 (the most northerly option) selected following results of 51% in favour
- Option 2 favoured by 11 per cent, whilst 28 per cent had no preference and 10% responded ‘don’t know’.
Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO)
Following the advertising of a Compulsory Purchase Order and Side Roads Order for this scheme, a Public Inquiry was held in August 2021. On 16 September 2021 the Secretary for Transport gave notice he had confirmed both orders with modifications.
Business case
There has been approval from the Department for Transport of the funding bid for £11.8m.
If you require an accessible version, email mark.martin@westsussex.gov.uk.
3 Progress
(Position at December 2024)
Programme
Main construction works commenced on 24 October 2022 and the scheme completion is currently forecast for early 2025.
Current activities include:
- the culvert installation is ongoing and the precast units are installed and it is currently being backfilled
- the viaduct has been waterproofed so the road surface can now be laid on the bridge
- street lighting, kerbs and edgings installed
- attenuation tank and other drainage facilities installed
- preparation of land for landscaping ongoing
Monthly construction updates
- Monthly progress updates 1 to 5 (PDF, 1.7MB)
- Monthly progress updates 6 to 10 (PDF, 3.1MB)
- Monthly progress updates 11 to 15 (PDF, 3.9MB)
- Monthly progress updates 16 to 20 (PDF, 4.7MB)
- Monthly progress update 21 (PDF, 1MB)
- Monthly progress update 22 (PDF, 800KB)
- Monthly progress update 23 (PDF, 979KB)
- Monthly progress update 24 (PDF, 808KB)
Archaeology
Archaeology works on site were completed in December 2022.
4 Traffic management and closures
(Position at October 2024)
- Traffic has been temporarily rerouted onto a section of what will become the new carriageway. This is to allow works to progress in the footprint of the existing carriageway, while reducing the wider impact of the general public.
- Traffic signals will be in use intermittently as required, on Lyminster Road. This will generally be 2-way traffic lights on the southbound carriageway between 9.30am until 3.30pm, Monday to Friday.
- Traffic Management will be updated on the website as well as on West Sussex County Council’s Highways twitter account @WSHighways.