Stalled: end of the Queensway Gateway Road, looking across to the A21 to which it is due to be connected, though when is not known.

Alarm bells ring at Selep over road funding arrangements

An apparent change in the funding arrangements for completing Sea Change Sussex’s Queensway Gateway Road project has set alarm bells ringing at the South East Local Enterprise Partnership ahead of its accountability board meeting on Friday 23rd. A prospective date for completing the project remains unavailable. Nick Terdre reports.

In a report to the South East Local Enterprise Partnership’s accountability board, Helen Dyer, Selep’s capital programme manager, notes that the update on the project from East Sussex County Council refers to the remaining £2m budget, which Sea Change has undertaken to provide itself, as “temporary contingency funding.”

The term, which is used in the update to the board by ESCC officer Richard Dawson, is not flagged up as new, nor is any explanation given as to what is meant by it.

“…We are seeking urgent assurance from East Sussex County Council that this funding will be available to support the Project and that the use of the word ‘temporary’ does not indicate uncertainty with respect to the availability of this or any additional funding required to deliver the remaining section of the road,” Dyer writes.

“It is imperative that the update report to the Board in November 2022 provides greater assurance regarding the availability and commitment of this funding by Sea Change Sussex,” she also states.

“If Sea Change Sussex are unable to commit this funding to the Project, an alternative approach to bridging any funding gap will need to be identified in the next report to the Board. If there is a funding gap which cannot be bridged, meaning that the Project cannot be delivered in accordance with the Business Case, the Board will be asked to consider whether the £10m [Local Growth Fund grant] should remain allocated to the Project.”

In other words, as Dyer points out, Selep may require the grant, which has already been spent, to be repaid by ESCC, which in turn would seek to recover the same amount from Sea Change.

Reporting shortfall

Reporting on the project is supposed to be robust and complete, but after ESCC failed to deliver a full written update to the July meeting, it has again failed to provide a comprehensive update.

As Dyer notes, neither a complete timeline of milestones nor a complete financial update is available.

Efforts for bringing the new road into operation, originally due in November 2016, are currently directed at implementing a signalised connection – traffic lights – at the junction of Junction Road and the A21. Before construction can take place, however, there are still a number of outstanding approvals, a traffic regulation order and a Section 278 regulatory agreement which need to be secured.

High Weald House, part of Sea Change’s Bexhill Enterprise Park development, which has gained a new tenant in the shape of fast-growing IT services firm Factory Internet, the company reports.

Dyer notes that completion of the project “may have been further delayed due to the requirement for a Stage 2 Road Safety Audit Addendum to be completed – a requirement which was not  initially anticipated by either East Sussex County Council or Sea Change Sussex.”

A significant rise in construction costs is causing further uncertainty, though Dyer notes Sea Change’s view that capital costs will remain within the £2m budget for completion. But the fact that a contractor to undertake the outstanding work has still to be procured raises a concern over the affordability of the project.

“An update on the procurement of the contractor must be provided at the next meeting,” she writes.

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