Road exhibition protest

The change of mind follows a storm of protest over its decision to hold the exhibition into a new dual carriageway between Southerham and Beddingham last week at Ringmer Primary School.

The road scheme includes a massive flyover across the railway crossing.

The Agency claims it will cut congestion and improve safety, but environmental campaigners say it is far from obvious that it will achieve any useful purpose.

Richard Ruzyllo, whose home overlooks the proposed new road, attended the exhibition.

He later said: 'As a Governor of Ringmer School I can tell you that the exhibition booking was made on October 4. Surely at that time there were venues in Lewes still available.

'Interestingly, the exhibition had everything but a view of how the proposed road would look. There was a small cross-section showing the inevitable large trees shielding the road from view but no photographic representation. Why?'

Lewes resident Jeremy Goring said: 'The Highways Agency and its consultants are to be congratulated upon their choice of a venue for the exhibition.

'If it really was their intention to ensure that few Lewes people got to it, then they can be said to have succeeded admirably.

Obligation

'The Agency now has a clear moral obligation to hold a second one in Lewes early in the New Year.'

Lewes MP Norman Baker said: 'The location of the exhibition was an insult to the people of Lewes. It was held at short notice, miles from the people most affected.

'It is also puzzling and worrying that the Highways Agency has come up with a scheme that was unacceptable 10 years ago.

'The Government is spending a fortune on roads and nothing on rail.'

Peter Mumford, Chairman of the Sussex branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England, said: 'It is particularly mischievous of the Highways Agency to rush forward its proposals for its visually and environmentally damaging flyover at Beddingham.

'It knows there is little chance of such a monstrous piece of expensive misplanning being acceptable to the new National Parks Authority and is trying to push it through before a powerful opposition is in place.'

A Highways Agency spokesman said some hundreds of people attended the Ringmer two-day exhibition although she couldn't say how many came from Lewes.

'We earlier tried numerous venues for a meeting in Lewes and failed because they were not happy to take any political bookings,' she added. 'There were also timing issues and many venues were already booked.

'We shall try again in the New Year.'

l Letters: Pages 6,7