Residents say ‘Eastbourne is at breaking point’ with roadworks

On Twitter @Eb_Merc_Boy69 said temporary lights were resulting in ‘gridlocked’ conditions on the morning of September 13 and traffic was ‘backed up’.

He told the Herald: “It’s an absolute joke. The whole of Langney is blocked, talk about pollution. Not that I'm an environmentalist but it’s making people late. The other day it took me 30 minutes to get from the DGH to Langney. I don’t like moaning but it’s been two weeks now with roadworks on the seafront. Eastbourne is at breaking point.”

The same morning @ChrissyMarriott took to Twitter to ask East Sussex County Council (ESCC): “What plan is there?”

She posted: “Is there a plan, other than to completely screw up the school runs and commuting?! There were at least five weeks in the school holidays.”

An ESCC spokesperson said: “Eastbourne is currently experiencing a large volume of roadworks mainly due to competing internet fibre companies installing full fibre broadband across the borough.

“Utility companies have a legal right to work in the public highway to install new services or to maintain existing apparatus. The council’s role is to issue permits to those companies wishing to carry out repairs or install new equipment in the public highway. When considering permit applications from utility companies we always try to balance the needs of road users with the statutory rights of companies to install, access, maintain and repair their assets.

“The council also has to consider the needs and wishes of businesses and residents who want faster and more reliable services. Where possible we encourage major works that will cause disruption to road users to take place during school holidays, however due to the number of works we cannot fit all of these into such short periods of time. Where possible we will also try and encourage collaboration between utility companies and there are incentives under our permit scheme for work to be undertaken outside of peak times. We will continue to monitor the situation and work with companies to keep disruption to a minimum.”

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