Joan

Highways England are currently running a public consultation on 3 options for the replacement of the existing single carriageway by-pass at Arundel with a new dual carriageway by-pass.

The consultation period ends on 16 October 2017.

Documents

The Highways England A27 Bypass brochure can be found here

The Highways England A27 Bypass questionnaire can be found here

Local Exhibition

An un-staffed exhibition, where you can view information boards and pick up paper copies of the brochure and questionnaire, is going to be held at Sullington Parish Hall, Thakeham Road, on Wednesday 4th October from 2pm to 8pm.

Public Events

There have also been public events held with members of the Highways England team present.  There are still two more to come: at Fontwell Racecourse – Premier Grandstand on 5th October from 2pm to 8pm; and at Cathedral Centre Arundel BN18 9AY on Saturday 14 October from 10am to 5pm.

Other local A27 schemes

To put this proposed A27 road development in context,  the proposed by-pass at Chichester was cancelled in June 2017 by the Secretary of State for Transport and the consultation period on proposed junction improvements on the A27 at Worthing / Lancing closed in mid September.  The details of the Worthing / Lancing scheme can be found here.

More Information

As the Society has not consulted its membership on the A27 Arundel By-pass proposals, nor have they been discussed by the Trustees, the Society makes no comment on them nor offers any recommendation.

As you would expect there are differing views on the A27 Arundel By-pass proposals.  The links below are intended to offer the reader the opportunity to explore those differing views and are intended to represent all the local organisations concerned with this issue.  If you are aware of any other local campaigning group that has been missed please let us know.

www.a27arundel.org

www.arundelbypass.co.uk

www.arundela27forum.org.uk

www.onearundel.co.uk

www.scate.org.uk

www.southdownssociety.org.uk

www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/A27Arundel

The ‘theme’ for the September field days at Sullington Warren and Sandgate Park was removing saplings from the heath land.

On the second Saturday in September we pulled saplings from the wet heath area near the Water Lane fire access.  On the fourth Saturday we pulled saplings from the heather bank opposite the bench on the path from Sandgate Lane.

At Sullington Warren the material we pulled up was bagged up and removed from the site.

At Sandgate Park we had a bonfire which although smokey burned pretty well.

Some people may wonder why we spend so much time taking care of the heather and why we don’t let the trees grow and replace the heather.  Not everyone likes the heather, and that is OK because we can’t all like the same things.  But both sites are maintained with nature conservation in mind and the dry and wet heather areas are valuable wildlife habitats.  If the trees were allowed to encroach on the heather there would only be trees but with the heath areas maintained both sites have a mosaic of different habitats, including wet and dry heathland and woodland, and so support a wide range of different species.

Our Honorary President, Don Fillison, sent us a poem for Autumn a few days ago.  We have been holding off posting it, not wishing the Summer away, but given the weather today we think the time has come to admit that the season is changing.  But it is not all bad news.  Autumn is a wonderful season with its ripe fruits and colourful leaves, and we can still expect some mild sunny days.

Autumn.

Ripe apples hanging high in trees;
Wasps in the windfalls, busy bees.
Sweet chestnuts and hazels too.
Harvest festivals, harvest moon;
Michaelmas will be here quite soon.

Grass glistening in the dew.
Our migrant birds are on the move;
Those shooting pheasants out to prove,
How macho they all are.
Birch and hornbeams turning yellow,
‘Indian Summer’, mild and mellow.
Blackberries in a jar.

Halloween witches, hear their cackle;
Footsteps in the leaf-fall crackle.
Toadstools and chanterelle.
Leaves and bracken, all splashed with gold;
Red Admirals fly, as nights grow cold.
We must tuck up as well.

Don Filliston.

This programme, originally shown earlier in the year, is available on BBC iPlayer for the next 28 days.

It describes the various landscapes of the Downs: chalk grassland; heathland; woodland; and river valleys and the plants and animals they support, through the seasons of the year.

Watch it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08fsbtk/south-downs-englands-mountains-green

 

At the eastern end of Sandgate Park, at the Badgers Holt entrance, is a large pond usually called Badgers Pond but which, I believe, has also been called the Lower Pond and Stacey Pond (after a local property owner in the 1920’s).

Badgers Pond is fed from a larger pond, which is hidden amongst the rhododendron, just to the north of it.

You can easily spot fish in the pond, especially in the summer and when the light is at the right angle, and there have been reliable reports of kingfishers being spotted around the pond.  Ducks are also regular visitors.

The pond does suffer from becoming over-shaded and from vegetation falling or being thrown into it.  This results in the oxygen levels in the pond becoming low and during hot, dry periods algae blooms start to develop.

The working party on this Saturday was tasked with clearing vegetation around the pond and removing trees and branches from within the pond, in order to help ensure that the pond remains a healthy environment for it aquatic inhabitants and the birds and other species that feed on them.

The photographs below tell their own story!