A29 Re-alignment

The request was partially successful.

Dear West Sussex County Council,
Please provide me with a) copies of all documents, reports, agreements,plans, maps, costings, Cost Benefit Analyses and Traffic Survey / Modelling results, financial commitments, evidence of need and e-mails received and sent out by WSCC that relate to the implementation of Arun District Council or Coast2Capital LEP's pursuit of a realignment of the A29 between Fontwell and Shripney and b) an interim statement on WSCC's assessment, support for and imminent actions with regard to the A29 realignment.

Yours faithfully,

Ian Truin

Freedom of Information Act,

Dear Mr Truin,

Thank you for your enquiry, which has been forwarded to the appropriate officers for a response.

Please note that following a decision by the Cabinet at a meeting on 4th September 2012, FoI and EIR requests to West Sussex County Council and the Council's responses may be published on the Council's website in a suitably anonymised form. This is in addition to the individual response to the requestor, and in line with the Council's commitment to transparency and open data.

Yours sincerely,

Duncan Macdonald
Customer Relations Officer

Freedom Of Information | West Sussex County Council | Location: County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RQ
E-mail: [email address]

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Dear West Sussex County Council,
I have received no response to this request which was due by 13 May 2014. Can you please let me have the information requested straight away and an explanation of the delay.

Thanks

Yours faithfully,

Ian Truin

Freedom of Information Act,

Dear Mr Truin,

 

I do apologise for this apparent failure to meet the timescales. I will
follow it up with the officer dealing with your request to ensure there
are no more undue delays.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Dave Loveman

Customer Relations Team Manager

 

Freedom Of Information |  [1]West Sussex County Council | Location:
County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RQ
E-mail: [2][email address]

 

 

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CI Group FOI,

Our Ref. 1348

 

Dear Mr Truin

 

Environmental Information Regulations 2004

 

Thank you for your request for information which we received on 11 April
2014.  I can confirm that the department does hold the information falling
within the terms of your request.

 

The Regulations allow us 20 working days to respond to your request from
the date of its receipt.  However, it is occasionally necessary to extend
the 20 working day time limit for issuing a response.  In this case I
regret that we must extend the time limit for responding by 10 days
because of the complexity and volume of the request.  I regret the delay
in advising you of this situation, but this has been out of my control.

 

I hope to let you have a response by the 28 May 2014 and will keep you
informed of any further delay.

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
wish to ask for a review of our decision under our complaints procedure
via our website.
 
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints
procedure.  The ICO can be contacted at the Information Commissioner's
Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
 
Please remember to quote our reference number above in any further
correspondence.
 
Yours sincerely

 

Alison Attwood

Business Practitioner

 

 

 

Alison Attwood | Business Practitioner, Business Management Team, Business
Improvement, [1]West Sussex County Council
Location: Room 215, East Wing, County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RF
Internal: 28338 | External: +44 (0) 3302 228338 | E-mail:
[2][email address]

 

 

 

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CI Group FOI,

1 Attachment

Our Ref. 1348

 

Dear Mr Truin

 

Environmental Information Regulations 2004

 

I refer to your request for information in relation to the A29
realignment.  Your request was received by me on 10 April and is being
processed under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. 

 

I am now in a position to respond to you and attach the relevant
information for your perusal.  Please note in accordance with Regulation
13(1)(a) of the Environmental Information Regulations all personal data
has been redacted as disclosure of the information to a member of the
public would contravene the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

I have answered your second point (b) below.

 

The A29 scheme is included on the long-list of potential transport
infrastructure improvements in the Strategic Transport Investment
Programme (STIP) as a priority for further investigation in 2014/15. 
Currently there is a study underway on the A29 at Westergate assessing the
viability and feasibility of a realigned road, commissioned by Arun
District Council to support the transport evidence base for their draft
Local Plan.  This is due to report soon and the County Council will assess
the study when it is published and determine what the next steps are.  The
A29 is not currently an approved County Council scheme and would require a
robust business case, design and consultation to be carried out with the
necessary approvals being secured before any implementation.

 

Coast to Capital Strategic Economic Plan -
[1]http://www.coast2capital.org.uk/images/C...

WSCC Strategic Transport Infrastructure Programme, Select Committee Report
May 2014 - [2]http://www2.westsussex.gov.uk/ds/cttee/e...

Joint Downland Area Committee Area Action Plan Update, March 2014 -
[3]http://www2.westsussex.gov.uk/ds/cttee/d...

Arun Transport Study 2013 -
[4]http://www.arun.gov.uk/documentHandler.c...

A29 Realignment Study 2013 -
[5]http://www.arun.gov.uk/documentHandler.c...

A29 Woodgate Study 2012 -
[6]http://www.arun.gov.uk/documentHandler.c...

 

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most
documents supplied by us will be copyright of West Sussex County Council.
 
Information you receive which is not subject to WSCC copyright continues
to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from
which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their
permission before reproducing any third party (non WSCC) information.
 
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
wish to ask for a review of our decision under our complaints procedure
via our website.
 
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints
procedure.  The ICO can be contacted at the Information Commissioner's
Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
 
Please remember to quote our reference number above in any further
correspondence.

 

Yours sincerely

Alison Attwood

Business Practitioner

 

Alison Attwood | Business Practitioner, Business Management Team, Business
Improvement, [7]West Sussex County Council
Location: Room 215, East Wing, County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RF
Internal: 28338 | External: +44 (0) 3302 228338 | E-mail:
[8][email address]

 

 

 

 

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Dear CI Group FOI,

I believe that in January 2014 WSCC initiated a consultation with Councillors and Parish Councils (but not local residents) regarding the A29 Realignment scheme and that on 17th June 2014, although there is nothing visible on the WSCC website, a WSCC Cabinet member decided, apparently unheralded,to add the scheme onto the list of strategic projects for the Council.

Can you please tell me why there was no mention of this activity in the response files that you gave me, nor any allusion to this process in the written answer you gave me?
Can you also please inform me of the process that will be undertaken from now on this dubious project re consultation, validation, process transparency and accountability?

Yours sincerely,

Ian Truin

Freedom of Information Act,

Dear Mr Truin,

Thank you for your email of 24 June 2014 (below), which has been passed to me. You say that in January 2014 WSCC initiated a consultation with Councillors and Parish Councils regarding the A29 Realignment scheme and that on 17th June 2014, a WSCC Cabinet member decided to add the scheme onto the list of strategic projects for the Council. You also ask about the process that will be undertaken, with regard to consultation, validation, process transparency and accountability. I am treating these comments and enquiry as a fresh request for information, and have forwarded this to the appropriate officers for a response.

Please note that following a decision by the Cabinet at a meeting on 4th September 2012, FoI and EIR requests to West Sussex County Council and the Council's responses may be published on the Council's website in a suitably anonymised form. This is in addition to the individual response to the requestor, and in line with the Council's commitment to transparency and open data.

Yours sincerely,

Duncan Macdonald
Customer Relations Officer

Freedom Of Information | West Sussex County Council | Location: County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RQ
E-mail: [email address]

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CI Group FOI,

5 Attachments

Our Ref. 66875

 

Dear Mr Truin

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000

 

I refer to your request for information in relation to the A29
re-alignment scheme.  Your request was received by me on 24 June 2014 and
is being processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

I am now in a position to respond to you as follows.

 

In addition to your earlier request, the County Council has also received
a number of related questions.  For clarity, it has been decided to
provide a single response addressing each of your questions below.

 

Question 1: Can you please tell me why there was no mention of this
activity in the response files that you gave me, nor any allusion to this
process in the written answer you gave me?

 

The Council’s response to FOI Ref 1348 stated that “The A29 scheme is
included on the long-list of potential transport infrastructure
improvements in the Strategic Transport Investment Programme (STIP) as a
priority for further investigation in 2014/15.”

 

The information provided included a copy of the consultation email
(attached again for your information) which was issued to consultees on
the County Council’s Strategic Transport Investment Programme.  The full
list of consultees included:

 

·         West Sussex County Council members;

·         District, Borough, Town and Parish Councils and Local Strategic
Partnerships;

·         South Downs National Park Authority;

·         Neighbouring Highway Authorities;

·         Coast to Capital Local Economic Partnership, area economic
partnerships and local economic associations and Chambers of Commerce;

·         Main Universities and Colleges

·         Transport operators, organisations and interest groups
(including Gatwick Airport; bus and rail companies; bus, rail, cycle,
local access forum, taxi  representative groups and partnerships)

·         Other transport interest and representative groups (including
disability groups, road safety, young persons, gypsies and travellers,
youth, and health organisations) 

 

Question 2: Can you also please inform me of the process that will be
undertaken from now on this dubious project re consultation, validation,
process transparency and accountability?

 

The A29 realignment is a major highway scheme required to support the
proposed strategic development at Barnham, Eastergate and Westergate.  As
the development is a proposed allocation in the emerging Arun District
Local Plan, the next steps will generally fall into two categories; a)
examination and adoption of the Arun Local Plan and b) preparation of a
major scheme business case for the A29 realignment.

 

For information on the consultation, timetable and examination of the Arun
Local Plan, please refer these questions to Arun District Council.

 

For the preparation of a major scheme business case, this work is
currently being planned and there is no fixed timetable for this work to
be completed.  A major scheme business case must be prepared in line with
DfT guidance on transport scheme appraisal (webTAG) and accepted by Coast
to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership before Local Growth Funding can be
accessed.  This work will include; public and stakeholder consultation,
design, building a transport model, scheme appraisal, environmental impact
assessment, confirmation of funding and delivery arrangements.  Our
present estimate is that a major scheme business case will be ready for
submission to the Local Enterprise Partnership by the end of 2015.

 

No governance arrangements for the project have yet been established and
we expect to discuss these with Arun District Council and Coast to Capital
Local Enterprise Partnership shortly.

 

Question 3: Which Parish Councils in the Arun District were sent an email
in December 2013 regarding consultation on an A29 realignment?

 

No Parish Councils were consulted on the Strategic Transport Investment
Programme in December 2013. 

 

Question 4: Which Parish Councils in the Arun District were sent an email
in January 2014 regarding consultation on an A29 realignment?

Question 5: Which Parish Councils in the Arun District were sent an email
in January 2014 which told them to ignore a previous deadline setting
email and to expect a revised version?

Question 6: Which Parish Councils in the Arun District were sent an email
in January 2014 which assigned a new deadline to the exercise?

 

In response to questions 4), 5) and 6), these emails were sent to all
Parish Councils on the County Council’s list of parish contacts as it
existed when the emails were sent – the email groups used for Parish
Councils in Arun are called PCC Downland, PCC Western Arun and PCC Eastern
Arun.  The current list of parish contacts is attached.

 

We hope this information is helpful but please contact Darryl Hemmings,
email address [1][email address] if you require any
additional information.

 

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most
documents supplied by us will be copyright of West Sussex County Council.
 
Information you receive which is not subject to WSCC copyright continues
to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from
which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their
permission before reproducing any third party (non WSCC) information.
 
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
wish to ask for a review of our decision under our complaints procedure
via our website.
 
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints
procedure.  The ICO can be contacted at the Information Commissioner's
Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
 
Please remember to quote our reference number above in any further
correspondence.

 

Yours sincerely

Alison Attwood

Business Practitioner

 

 

Alison Attwood | Business Practitioner, Business Management Team, Business
Improvement, [2]West Sussex County Council
Location: Room 215, East Wing, County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RF
Internal: 28338 | External: +44 (0) 3302 228338 | E-mail:
[3][email address]

 

 

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