As a member of the South Coast Alliance for Transport and Environment (SCATE), the Sussex Wildlife Trust has been campaigning against this road proposal for many years. We acknowledge that there are congestion issues around Arundel, but spending hundreds of millions of pounds in a nature-destroying, traffic-inducing, carbon-producing scheme to save 9.3 minutes of travel time is not the solution. 

Instead we have always favoured a smaller intervention between the Ford Road roundabout and Crossbush Junction, along with far more investment into integrated sustainable travel options.

The National Highways consultation documents for this new bypass showed that vulnerable species, including the incredibly rare Alcathoe Bat (a woodland specialist only ‘discovered’ in 2010), as well as Hazel Dormice (a priority species at risk of extinction in the UK) and irreplaceable veteran trees, will be directly impacted by the proposals - and it’s our assessment that the severity of these impacts has been hugely underestimated. The proposed 8km road will sever critical wildlife corridors, degrade important woodlands and moves us completely in the wrong direction in terms of the climate and ecological emergencies. We urgently need to reduce travel by private car, not spend millions of pounds building more roads.

Read our objection to the previous consultation here: FINAL Sussex Wildlife Trust Objection to Arundel A27 Bypass March22

What about the government’s commitments to nature?

The global ecological emergency is unfolding in front of our eyes and we are still losing wildlife. The most recent State Of Nature report highlighted a staggering 41% of UK species have declined in abundance since 1970. We have seen a flurry of reports, strategies and plans to address this biodiversity loss, culminating with royal assent of the Environment Act 2021. The Government is hailing this as world leading environmental legislation, with a clear aim to halt the decline in species by 2030 - and yet there has been no let-up in the net loss of nature in the UK, with the Government’s own assessment indicating that the UK will fail to meet the majority of its global biodiversity targets. The National Highways consultation document for this new bypass shows that vulnerable species and irreplaceable veteran trees will be directly impacted by the proposals - and it’s our assessment that the severity of these impacts has been hugely underestimated. The proposed 8km road will sever critical wildlife corridors and degrade important woodlands. Is it really in the public’s interest to allow such wide scale destruction of nature to go ahead?

What about the government’s commitments to climate change?

The Government has made clear and bold commitments to address climate change through the Climate Change Act 2008 that intends to see us reach net zero by 2050. When this is considered alongside the recommendations of the Transport for the South East Strategy, which states that car dependency must be reduced by 20%, how can the prioritisation of a multi-million pound road scheme be compatible?

Studies have shown that most of the traffic on the existing road is only travelling a short distance, so could be transferred to walking, cycling and public transport with proper investment. In a time when we have seen global change and huge shifts in home-working practices we need a government to ensure that schemes coming forward are based on realistic transport data that considers current and emerging patterns, and delivers a sustainable transport system for all.

What about the government’s commitments to the landscape?

In order for biodiversity to thrive, the landscape needs to function fully and naturally, providing the connections and corridors required for wildlife to survive, move and adapt in the face of a changing climate. The Lawton Review of 2010, which underpinned our drive towards the Environment Act 2021, clearly stated that we need bigger, better more, and joined-up spaces for nature. Yet this is a scheme that will impact protected Local Wildlife Sites and priority habitats, cutting across the floodplain with currently unknown impacts on flood risk and all the associated wetland habitats and species.