- Rebecca Maer, Eastbourne Reporter
- Huw Oxburgh, BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service
Council leaders have agreed to divert millions of pounds of bus funding to replace the single-lane Exceat Bridge near the Cuckmere Haven beauty spot.
The total cost of the work is now put at nearly £22 million, ten times the amount of funding the project received when the plan went before East Sussex County Council eight years ago.
In 2017, the council received £2.13 million in government funding to carry out the work, as detailed in a press release.
Nearly £5 million has already been spent on the project, according to Lewes Liberal Democrat MP James MacCleary, who is also county councillor for Newhaven and Bishopstone.
Mr MacCleary has asked the council how the previous cost estimate of £10.6 million proved to be so far off the mark.
On Tuesday (April 22), the council’s cabinet agreed to “re-direct” more than £11 million towards plans to replace the single-lane bridge with a two-lane, two-way bridge.
The bridge is on the picturesque A259 between Seaford and Eastbourne in the Seven Sisters Country Park.
The proposals attracted opposition from some councillors, who argued the project was proving to be too expensive and should be dropped.
This had been an option due to be considered at a previous cabinet meeting in March.
Under this plan, the council might have approved a cheaper like-for-like replacement of the existing bridge.
In face of this criticism, Cllr Nick Bennett, Conservative cabinet member for resources and climate change, defended the project to build a two-lane bridge.
He said: “If we build a single-lane bridge now, in 20 years’ time people will think that we’ve missed a great opportunity to build something far more substantial that supports the infrastructure for a long time.”
The additional funding for the project is to be drawn from money tied to the council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP).
BSIP funding for East Sussex was initially £41.4 million, although the local authority had asked for £100 million. The latest figures for allocations for the three years from 2022/23 to 2025/26 show a total of £51.3 million or £97.48 per head of population. This is in tenth place across 75 local authorities.
Before making their decision, cabinet members heard how the reallocation will result in some disruption to other projects within the BSIP. These include bus priority schemes such as new bus lanes in Newhaven and Peacehaven.
The council says it still hopes to move ahead with these schemes should further funding be made available. It intends to use 2025/26 BSIP funding to continue with the Newhaven scheme, but officers have said the scheme “may need to be descoped to ensure it can be delivered within the available funding”.
The future is more uncertain for the Telscombe Cliffs scheme as no additional funding has currently been identified.
The council says this scheme, as well as plans to improve Bus Stop Infrastructure and provide Real Time Information, would be prioritised using any future BSIP funding.
Some councillors raised concerns about the future of these schemes, however.
Green Party councillor Johnny Denis said: “[Traffic in Newhaven] is the biggest pinch point of all; for everybody, for the maximum number of users. That ought to be the priority, not this white elephant, or should we call it a red herring in terms of traffic solutions on the A259.”
He added: “This is a nonsense. We are basically saying one community isn’t going to get it, another community isn’t going to get it. We are going to keep pouring money down a terrible deep hole on a failed project.”
Liberal Democrat James MacCleary, who is both county councillor for Newhaven and Bishopstone and the MP for Lewes, took a different view. He argued that the Newhaven bus priority scheme, which would take place around The Drove and Denton Roundabout, would be “disruptive”. He said the council should focus on addressing traffic congestion problems instead.
But Cllr MacCleary also shared concerns about the potential for the two-lane bridge project to further increase in cost.
In a statement published ahead of the meeting, Cllr MacCleary said: “I know that many local residents are very concerned that the council is now in the position of having to find so much additional funding for the replacement of the Exceat Bridge. With nearly £5 million already spent, the cost of the project is beginning to escalate significantly.
“Indeed, if cabinet agrees to proceed with [a two-lane bridge] … then the cost will be a minimum of £21.8 million, presuming no further cost over-runs – more than double the initial estimate.
“I would like to know how the previous cost estimate of £10.6 million proved to be so far off the mark, what lessons have been learned from this, and how the council leadership will be ensuring that taxpayers are not on the hook for more millions in the highly possible event that new estimates prove inaccurate?”
At their previous meeting in March, the costs associated with the two-lane bridge project meant cabinet members were to have considered alternative plans to construct a cheaper like-for-like replacement.
These plans, unlike the initial proposals, would have meant a road closure for around 22 weeks and delays of up to an hour for some rush-hour motorists, council officers had said.
A change of course was prompted by a letter from Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company Limited (B&H Buses).
According to officers, the bus company said it would have promoted the Exceat Bridge project as a higher priority than other schemes within the BSIP, had it not already been a project on the council’s books.
Since then, the Department for Transport (DfT) has given the council permission to reallocate £11.128m of BSIP grant funding towards the bridge.
While the reallocation of BSIP money is expected to close the funding gap, the Exceat Bridge project faces further hurdles.
As part of the project, the council is in the process of securing land through a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) and similar statutory powers.
In the light of objections, the DfT has arranged a public inquiry. This inquiry starts on May 13 and is expected to run for several days, following which a decision on the orders will be reached.
The council says it will continue to negotiate with the statutory objectors in the hope of removing the need for a CPO.
Cllr Claire Dowling (Con), cabinet member for transport and environment, said: “The Exceat Bridge is a pinch point, which we are all well aware of.
“This [project] is extremely important to the county and that corridor, especially to the buses and under the BSIP we are looking to encourage bus users on to the buses.”
