New roundabout for Comet Corner junction
It's hoped it'll make it safer
A four-arm roundabout is to be built at the Comet Corner junction of the A259, near Middleton-on-Sea.
Plans to build the roundabout – to connect to the B2132 Yapton Road and Worms Lane – were approved unanimously by West Sussex County Council’s planning & rights of way committee.
A report to the committee said: “The proposed development would result in a new signalised roundabout that would address the poor safety record associated with the existing junction and result in improvements to highway network performance, including capacity which would aid in accommodating planned and future development, and make journey times more reliable.
“It would also result in considerable improvements for non-motorised users. These are all substantial benefits.”
Between January 2017 and June 2024, 23 collisions which caused injury were recorded at the junction, resulting in five serious and 18 slight injuries.
Safety was one of the main issues highlighted in many of the dozens of letters which were submitted to the council supporting the plans. Only a handful of letters raised objections.
The new roundabout is part of the A259 Bognor Regis to Littlehampton Corridor Enhancement Scheme. It will include more bus stops, cycle and pedestrian facilities, and widened embankments. Grant funding of up to £30.5m will be provided for the scheme by the Department for Transport from its Major Road Network fund.
Janet Duncton (Con, Petworth) said the project was ‘overdue’, while Trevor Bence (Ref, Fontwell) called it ‘a long-awaited amendment to that road’.
Brian Quinn (Lab, Broadfield) said: “As a driver for over 60 years, this is one of the most dangerous junctions I’ve seen.”
As part of the scheme, the small road cutting the corner and linking Worms Lane to Yapton Road will be closed at one end, while the other end will be fenced and gated to allow workers to access utility points on the land. Hedgerow and trees will be planted on the site.
Jaine Wild (Green & Independent Alliance, Felpham) raised concerns, though, that this would leave ‘a nice little area’ on which travellers would set up camp and ‘might quite like it that much that they won’t want to move on’.
This concern was not shared by officers.