Burgess Hill Town Council Pledge Funds To Investigate Town Centre Place and Connectivity Scheme

Burgess Hill Town Council have pledged to bring in a Civil Engineer specialising in Highways in order to see if West Sussex County Council's Place and Connectivity Project in the town centre is compliant.



At the meeting of the full council on Monday 30th January, over 30 residents attended to take the first opportunity to air their views to one of the three local councils. Everyone in attendance was given time to comment and ask questions on an item that lasted a good hour.

The Town Council were very much in support of the residents, explaining how their feedback during consultation had been largely ignored by the County Council. Everyone felt disapponted that WSCC and MSDC didn't do enough to communicate the scheme and collect the views of residents ahead of firming up their final plans.

Lib Dem County Councillors Richard Cherry and Stuart Condie were in attendance, sharing news with the meeting how WSCC Cabinet Member for Highways - Cllr Joy Dennis (Conservative) has not been responding to their emails.



Local resident Gordon Parr was invited by the Chairman to address the meeting to explain elements of the scheme which he felt needed investigating the most. Mr Parr flagged up how he believes the carriageway no longer meets the minimum width requirements in certain sections on Station Road, questioned the suitability of the pavers used on the new shared footpath/cycleway and how the path outside the railway station is not safe for pedestrians and cyclists to use simultaneously.

Following Mr Parr's presentation, Cllr Henwood and Cllr Eggleston proposed and seconded an amendment which would see the council spend up to £10k to have the works looked at by a Civil Engineer as soon as possible.



The original recommendation on the agenda was for the council to call for a public meeting to be chaired by Cllr Joy Dennis - Highways Cabinet member, to be held in Burgess Hill and be attended by members of the Place and Connectivity project them to field questions from councillors and residents.This recomendation was approved by the council.

Will WSCC accept the request and be accountable to the public? We'll just have to wait and see!