Three-month Haywards Heath road closure ‘will have a devastating impact on the entire community’

Developer Redrow is to close Balcombe Road, Borde Hill Lane and Hanlye Lane for three months in June, to build a new roundabout as part of the Penlands Green development.

The Borde Hill Garden business owners say the closure of the major route into Haywards Heath will cause huge disruption and will threaten the survival of their businesses.

Jeremy Ashpool, of Jeremy’s Restaurant and Café Elvira, said: “All these independent businesses will be hard-pressed to cope with such a sustained closure of these routes.

“They will lose custom and income, and the jobs of many employees will be put in jeopardy.

“It is essential that the matter is handled in a manner which ensures that the interests of a developer operating for private profit are not given more weight than the interests of the public – in this case, local residents and businesses.”

During the road closure, all traffic will be diverted either through Cuckfield and Balcombe, or via Copyhold Lane – meaning there will be no direct access to the 15 businesses. The owners say they have made ‘vigorous representation’ – but have been ignored.

Under the banner of the Borde Hill Businesses Group, the 15 companies are now jointly campaigning for a contraflow system, rather than complete closure.

Jill Housby, of The Green Tree Gallery, said: “This is not about profit. This is all about lives and livelihoods.

“This may be insignificant for big corporate entities and local authorities but it will inevitably have a devastating impact on the entire community.

“West Sussex Council, as highways authority, needs to understand how its decisions can impact real people living 40 miles away from remote Chichester.”

In response, Robert Phelps, technical director at Redrow Southern Counties, said: “There is a requirement for the roundabout to be built as part of delivering new homes at Penlands Green, works which Redrow received approval for in 2016.

“Once installed, the roundabout will ensure the area’s local infrastructure is improved to meet current and future needs, and will make the local highways network safer for local residents. Our consulting engineers and contractor advise that the safest and most effective way to construct the new roundabout is a full closure, a matter which we have discussed and agreed with the Highway Authority.

“The specific timings have been agreed with West Sussex County Council with particular consideration of the school holidays and the South of England Show to ensure minimum disruption.

“We appreciate this will inconvenience local businesses and residents, which is why we took the decision to delay the works in excess of a year in order to give local businesses the opportunity to put in place appropriate contingency plans. “This delay also allowed us to carefully re-assess all the various options for these works and the decision to fully close these roads has not been taken lightly.”

A West Sussex County Council spokesman also said: “We sympathise with residents and businesses as there will be a high level of inconvenience during these works. We made extensive efforts to try to find another option but there is no other, safe and practical option for the developer.

“The works have been substantially delayed to give people time to plan for the temporary closure and we have focused on giving the community as much notice as possible, starting with the developer’s notices and letters, which were recently distributed in the area. We are also making it a requirement that the developer’s contractor undertake seven-day working to minimise the length of the closure.

“The roads have to be closed because of a big difference in the level of the existing road and proposed road alignment where the new road will join at the new roundabout – where Balcombe Road, Borde Hill and Hanlye Lane intersect.

“Engineered embankments have to be constructed to support the new road alignment and there is insufficient space to accommodate traffic and the construction activities.

“Once built, the roundabout will improve the current junction arrangement to meet current and future needs and make the local highways network safer.

“The highway improvement works are a requirement of the planning permission, granted in June, 2017, for 210 homes at Penlands Green.”