Call for urgent action over Bolney blackspot

West Sussex Highways have produced a list of 15 areas on their ‘Traffic Regulation Order (T.R.O) Priority List’ for south Mid Sussex. However, due to financial pressures, the county council can only fund three projects a year.

Semley Road and Stanford Avenue in Hassocks feature are at the top of the list. The roads are heavily congested with rail commuters’ parked cars and are seen as a priority for waiting restrictions after residents first raised the issue eight years ago.

Other roads listed in the top three and earmarked for waiting restrictions are Noel Rise, Leylands Road, Weald Road and Royal George Road in Burgess Hill.

However, languishing at the bottom of the T.R.O list, at number 15, is an accident blackspot on the A272 at Bolney, which is listed as needing a speed limit.

West Sussex county councillor Peter Griffiths, who represents Bolney and Hurstpierpoint and is the cabinet member for Education and Schools, said he had first raised the issue of traffic calming in 2006, after a student died on the A272 at nearby Ansty.

Addressing a South Mid Sussex County Local Committee meeting in Burgess Hill last Thursday, he said: “I am outraged that this has been demoted to number 15.

“I’ve suggested we should have a crossing because families cross the road to Bolney primary school. I’m still seething that nothing has been done after all this time.”

A Bolney resident told the meeting: “It’s going to take the death of a child to make the county council sit up and take notice.”

The committee heard that 84 accidents have occurred on the stretch of road over the past three years with eight major road closures lasting for more than two hours in 2012 because of accidents.

Bolney district councillor Sue Seward said: “This particular area at the top of Foxhole Lane has been on the agenda for at least 15 years.

“With three T.R.Os a year, we’re going to have to wait five years. We’ve got primary school children, a community café and elderly residents who cross the road to use the convenience store at the petrol station. It’s a very bad section of road.”

The committee decided to take Bolney off the T.R.O list and transfer it to a priority list for a school crossing in the hope that something can be done as soon as possible.