NEWS July 19th 2001
Byers does a U-turn on the bypass

Transport Minister Stephen Byers endangered traffic last week by pulling a swift U-turn on the Hastings bypass. Indicating that even motoring-mad New Labour can occasionally see the light, he has withdrawn plans to build two bypasses around the ancient Sussex town, through an area of outstanding natural beauty.

The aim of the bypasses was not only to speed up traffic but to ‘regenerate Hastings’ – apparently a fast road allowing people to avoid the town completely would be a really good thing for local jobs, not least because it would – you guessed it – open up a whole area of greenfield sites to new business and housing developments. Never mind that the consultants’ report offering the bypasses as one of two possible plans estimated that they could actually increase unemployment as they would bring more new residents to the area than new jobs.

In a strong bid for the title of ‘Loony of the Week’, Peter Jones, Tory leader of East Sussex County Council, accused the government of being too scared to stand up to ‘eco-tyrants’, but back home on Planet Earth Gillian Bargery of the Hastings Alliance - the coalition opposing the bypass - pointed out that as well as trashing one of the nicer bits of Sussex, the bypass would have been of very little use against congestion as 95% of the traffic on the roads the bypass was supposed to relieve is local, mainly between Hastings and Bexhill, so even if it did shift to the bypass it would still be coming back into the town on local roads – mainly through a residential area.

Hastings had become a flagship for New Labour’s planned 100+ new road schemes – locals, Friends of the Earth and other groups around the country had banded together to oppose it, promising a revival of the road protest movement that killed off most Tory road schemes in the mid-90s. This decision could sound a death-knell for some of the other schemes too.

The Hastings bypasses would have cost well over £100m – local campaigners hope some of this money will now be available for more focussed local development to tackle transport and social problems including the high unemployment levels.