Flooding is no doubt one of the weather-related relays to the link road construction.

Extra funding requested for link road

Extra funds are required for the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road – they are included in the draft budget which East Sussex County Council will vote on next month. Meanwhile the opening of the road has been indefinitely delayed. Nick Terdre reports.

The estimated cost of the controversial Bexhill-Hastings Link Road is forecast to increase by £2.9 million above the contingency fund, according to a report submitted to the Cabinet meeting yesterday. The need for extra funds is put down to increased archeological investigations during the construction of the road and weather-related delays.

The Cabinet accepted the recommendation which now forms part of the draft budget for 2015/16 to be voted on by the full council on 10 February.

“This latest cost increase, of almost £3m, comes just after the county council has decided to slash bus services to save £1.88m,” said Gabriel Carlyle, spokesperson for road opponents Combe Haven Defenders. “We are told that these cuts – which will hit the poorest and most vulnerable – cannot be avoided, yet when it comes to the link road, there is apparently a bottomless pit of money available.”

If the additional funding is approved, as seems likely, the total cost of the road will rise to £116.4 million, according to CHD. Leaving aside the Department for Transport grant of £56.85 million, that means that ESCC will have paid nearly £60 million.

And that may not be the end of the funding story – as the Cabinet report points out, “…there remains a risk of further increases in the forecast outturn in the event of, for example, poor weather conditions or other risks that may occur.”

The revised date of May for inaugurating the road has also been scrapped. “We do not have a definitive opening date,” an ESCC spokeswoman told HOT. “As is the case with every major road scheme, the actual opening date is subject to a range of factors such as exceptional weather, the extent of archeological discovery and investigation, and seasonally restricted environmental work.”

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