Cllr Gerard Fox, County Councillor Report
22nd January 2025
Hailsham Traffic Congestion
I have been in regular dialogue with our highways steward and highways officers regarding the utility works in the town that have led to seemingly endless congestion in recent months. It is important to understand that the county council has limited powers to control works by utility companies (especially when the works are classed as an emergency intervention).
Highways officers assure me that they are continually monitoring all these sites, requesting updates from the utilities and where appropriate challenging the duration of works. If traffic management is reported as inadequate (poorly phased or in key choke points), or the terms of permits abused they have also intervened to insist on manual traffic light control.
Enclosed is a summary of recent and current works in Hailsham, their progress, and highways team interventions:
- UKPN operated multiway traffic lights from 25th Nov to 6th Dec (following a highways team site visit). The works were to facilitate power connection to the garage for EV charging points
- Emergency gas works on South Road required multiway lights as there has been an ongoing issue with gas at this location for some time. Lights were in situ 19th to 27th Dec. There was a follow up visit 3rd to 5th January due to a poor highway reinstatement by the utility that was reported as dangerous for cyclists and motorcyclists
- An emergency SGN closure was put in place to close the High Street in Hailsham on the 31st of Dec. This started as some carriageway incursion but ended up as a full closure, which was lifted on the 15th of Jan after multiple communications with highways. Works impact has reverted to some carriageway incursion due to damage to a water pipe that requires subsequent repair
- An emergency SGN repair started in London Road on the 10th of Jan under two-way lights near the junction of Grovelands Road. These works are ongoing, and highways are monitoring this. The team requested manual control of the lights to aid traffic flows
- SEW emergency works under two-way lights on Hempstead Lane 10th to the 14th of January - manual control was requested due to the proximity of the A22 slip road to Hempstead Lane
- SEW emergency works Upper Horsebridge 14th January to 21st January Manual traffic light control was required on the permit due to the busy location at the end of London Road, the busy A271 (Battle Road) junction with London Road, and additionally the impact of other traffic-controlled works close-by under way from the 13th (with two-way lights already under manual control)
- Battle Road A295 Emergency SEW Road closure 16th January -21st January Burst 6-inch main which will affect supply
- Closure on Station Road has been delayed until the High Street opens to allow their diversion to be available. This will now be in place from the 20th of January
- B2104 Ersham Road has two-way lights and ongoing traffic management at different times due to the requirement for services for housing development sites
I have had some queries around the frequency of emergency works by utilities and the test by which such permits are granted. The test is whether the application (retrospectively) is reasonable.
You have to bear in mind that the law allows a utility company to start work in an emergency and to notify ESCC / apply for an “emergency” permit retrospectively, by which time they will have set up their traffic management and already excavated a hole in the road. That said, County Highways do challenge utility companies an impress on them the need to contain the emergency to as short a response as possible.
There is no county-wide evidence of an increase in emergency works. Again, you have to bear in mind an emergency can constitute a range of scenarios. A gas and water leak, and a power outage are obvious but so is the loss of internet and telephone services, as will be a damaged or missing manhole cover, a fallen telegraph / electricity pole, damaged or fallen cables. And we all know how frustrating it is when we lose a utility service in our homes.
In terms of the volume of works in general, this clearly has risen with all the new housing that has been and continues to be built (with quite horrendous - now mandatory - local building targets being set by the new Labour administration). And where the infrastructure is being upgraded that will also add to the volume of works.
Work to make 16 East Sussex sites safer begins
Work has begun on measures to reduce driver speeds as part of a programme to make East Sussex roads safer.
In 2023, Cllr Claire Dowling, Lead Member for Communities, Economy and Transport, secured £500,000 from the capital budget to explore road safety measures across the county.
A detailed assessment was carried out on the county’s A and B roads against factors including the character of the road and the environment, the average speed of vehicles, the level of vulnerable road users, facilities such as schools, shops and hospitals in the area, and the existing crash record.
Through this initial process, 16 roads have been prioritised as sites that could benefit from. speed limit reductions or measures to make the existing speed limit more effective. Improvements that will be introduced include:
- Extensions or reduction in speed limits
- Vehicle Activated Signs
- Road surface treatments
- New signage and lining
Public consultations on the introduction of lower speed limits at 13 other locations across the county are due to begin in the New Year. These schemes will be implemented over the first two years of the council’s Speed Management Programme. Further sites will then be assessed, prioritised and changes introduced in future years.
More information regarding the schemes can be found here.
Children’s Services:
Refurbished children’s home reopens following storm damage:
Staff and residents at a children’s residential home in Eastbourne celebrated its reopening recently following storm damage last year. The Bungalow, which accommodates up to seven children and young people aged between 7 and 19 with complex needs and disabilities, suffered extensive damage when Storm Ciaran hit last October. Repairs and planned refurbishments to the building have been carried out over the last year to ensure the building is safe and meets the needs of the residents. The refurbished home and the new facilities, which include a sensory room, a fitted kitchen, newly refurbished bedrooms and bathrooms, and a range of outdoor games and activities as well as an enclosed fire pit.
More information regarding the children’s home can be found here.
Communities, Economy and Transport
Royal coastal route extended across East Sussex:
Another 28 miles (45km) of the King Charles III England Coast Path, between Eastbourne and Rye Harbour, have opened in East Sussex. The new section forms part of what will be the world's longest managed trail when all 2,700 miles (4,345km) are joined up. Natural England has worked with East Sussex County Council, Wealden and Rother District Councils, Ramblers and Sussex Wildlife Trust to develop the new part of the trail. The completed sections of the Coast Path across the Southeast make up a near 240-mile (386km) course from Chichester to Brighton and Hove, beyond Eastbourne and Rye Harbour, to the Medway Towns, and on to Woolwich in south-east London
The National Trails website includes maps and advice on route planning. More information on the route can be found here.
Congratulations to apprentice graduates:
The achievements of apprentices from across East Sussex were celebrated, at the Winter Garden’s Floral Hall in Eastbourne, at a special graduation ceremony last month.
The East Sussex Apprenticeship Graduation Ceremony, held on the evening of 21 November, attendee by 50 graduates, recognised the commitment and hard work of East Sussex apprentices from across all industry sectors and of all ages and levels. The evening also celebrated the contributions of local businesses and educators to the programme and underlined the importance of apprenticeships to the local economy. Graduation certificates were presented on the evening to attendees who completed their apprenticeships between 1 November 2023 and 1 November 2024, including four special awards celebrating outstanding achievements based on nominations received from employers, colleagues, apprenticeship providers.
More information regarding apprenticeships and the event can be found here.
Impact of English Devolution Proposals on East Sussex
Just before Christmas, the Labour government published a White Paper on English Devolution. Unusually, they did not choose to publish a consultative Green Paper. The White Paper sets out what they plan to do, with legislation to enact it following this spring. They do this with an unstoppable majority in Parliament and claiming the legitimacy of these proposals having figured prominently in their General Election Manifesto.
The bottom line is that whether we like it or not we cannot resist it, and the deliberation of my council colleagues is that on balance we must do this now to retain some capacity for East Sussex to frame its own future rather than have it thrust upon us on less favourable terms later during this Parliament. These changes to local government arrangements are quite complex to enact and represent the most radical change in fifty years. The potential advantage is that they could unlock new money and powers for the region.
The timeline is very demanding and there are very clear carrot and stick pressures on local authorities to move rapidly to a unitary authority model (abolishing Counties, Districts and Boroughs) with a Combined Mayoral Authority sitting above it. In the past East Sussex has rejected a unitary model in favour of collaborative working with our Districts & Boroughs. Unfortunately, that option no longer remains open to us.
The government invited councils to submit expressions of interest to be considered for the Government’s Devolution Priority Programme, requiring indications of interest in support of the creation of a Combined Mayoral Strategic Authority by a deadline on Friday 10thJanuary.
Following a debate and vote at an Extraordinary Meeting of Full Council at County Hall, and a meeting of the East Sussex Cabinet on January 9th, a joint expression of interest, was sent from the leaders of East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton and Hove. More on the debate can be read here
We anticipate a response from the Secretary of State by the end of this month. The proposal if accepted would deliver the following:
- A Sussex Combined Mayoral Authority would be created covering the footprint of the areas currently served by East Sussex CC, West Sussex CC, and the current Brighton & Hove CC unitary authority.
- The key areas that a Sussex Combined Mayoral Authority would control would include:
- Transport and local infrastructure
- Skills and employment support
- Housing and strategic planning
- Economic development and regeneration
- Environment and climate change
- Health, wellbeing and public service reform
- Public safety
- The mayor’s cabinet would contain members of the three (now unitary) authorities of East Sussex and West Sussex, with Brighton & Hove.
- The directly elected Sussex Authority Mayor would gain access to investment funds not available to current tiers of local government
- There would be greater local autonomy around how funds are spent and priorities set than exist under current arrangements, where most funds are allocated between authorities for specific purposes to a government formula
- The Sussex Authority would be represented on the Council of the Regions which is where the government intends its future strategic dialogues with local government to take place
- East Sussex would become a unitary authority responsible for the key services currently provided by the county council, districts and boroughs
- Your local unitary authority councillor would become a single point of contact for most local services
- With the County Council being abolished, and decisions around our precise future course slightly hostage to the discretion of the Labour Secretary of State for Local Government, without seeking to pre-judge his response, a reframed electoral timetable seems likely – as has been common in many prior local government reorganisations - with elections for the Sussex CMA Mayor in May 2026, and the election of the East Sussex Unitary Authority members in May 2027
I'm always happy to answer your questions or hear any of your concerns. Please contact me at: [email protected]
Gerard Fox
County Councillor
Hailsham New Town
Conservatives
