The gas network's warning sign of impending roadworks is back by the Ferry Road level crossing in Rye this week only two weeks after East Sussex County Council (ESCC) Highways Department revoked their original permission for road works on Rye Hill.
The night before that story was published, February 19, an informal meeting of parish councillors and others had raised their concerns about the impact of the roadworks with ESCC and local MPs, and the existing permission for the work was speedily revoked.
Less than a week later Rye town councillor Pat Hughes told last week's (March 5) town meeting and ESCC's leader Councillor Keith Glazier how she had been raising concerns about the proposed works since last November with both the gas network SGN and ESCC.
Nevertheless within a couple of days ESCC Highways Department had agreed new dates for the work - with no apparent sign of any further consultation.
Full details of the ESCC decision can be found on the town council website. However the town council's request for a site meeting and offer to help with any consultation were both turned down by the gas network and its contractors.
The information displayed on the electronic sign at Ferry Road is that Military Road will be closed from March 23 to April 10, and the junction of Rye Hill with the Landgate and Fishmarket Road will be closed from March 30 to April 17.
The closure of Military Road will dealt with by a diversion via Appledore while the closure of Rye Hill is dealt with by a diversion via Hastings and Northiam to Playden - and both have been agreed by ESCC Highways.
Allegedly much of the work will be done over half term to reduce the impact of the work on school journeys, but no mention has been made of the impact on GP and hospital appointments in Playden which run into hundreds weekly - or the impact on bus services.
It is also not clear whether the closure of the Landgate junction will be clearly signposted so lorries and coaches do not get trapped in the one way system - a system already badly affected in the High Street by scaffolding around The George Hotel.
[Editor's note : I received a detailed report from Pat Hughes yesterday, who spoke at length about these roadworks at the town meeting last week, setting out some of the problems the new proposals will cause for parents and their children, and GP and hospital patients, from a wide area around Rye. This is published as a comment below.
And, if you have the same concerns, you should be getting in touch immediately with your local councillors (county, district and town) and with East Sussex County Council's Highways Department who appear to have grossly mishandled these proposed roadworks and where minimal consultation has taken place with those most deeply affected.
