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Sewage pipe upgrades making village feel 'deserted'

George Carden
BBC News, Angmering
George Carden/BBC Lee Newbon standing near the main square of the village with a little patch of grass and a tree behind him which is surrounded by roads. Behind that is his pub The Lamb. He is wearing a white sports jacket and has grey hair. George Carden/BBC
Lee Newbon says the roadworks are making the village feel deserted

Business owners say work to upgrade the sewage network for housing developments are making a West Sussex village feel "deserted".

The works around Water Lane, Angmering, started on 19 May and are set to continue until December.

Businesses said it had already impacted trade because people were not able to drive through the village any more.

Southern Water apologised and said it would have rolling road closures in place.

George Carden/BBC A large hole about 12 ft long which is being propped up with metal s. There is an excavator next to the hole and it is surrounded by red and grey fencing. To the left is the main green of the village and a traffic light where there is normally a pedestrian crossingGeorge Carden/BBC
The works in Water Lane next to the village's main square

"The extensive development of new homes has been unabated, it affects all of the traders in the square," said Lee Newbon, owner of The Lamb pub.

"The traffic has been stopped, it's affecting our livelihoods. It appears we're going to be without through traffic for months. We all depend on it.

"At the moment you can go outside the pub and it's deserted."

'We're all pretty angry'

The sewage pipe upgrades are feeding into several housing developments in the area, the largest being the 525-home Langmead Place housing estate, which is north east of the village near the A27.

Dean King, owner of Meat in The Square butchers, said: "We're all pretty angry, I think there's roads that have been shut which could have stayed open.

"The bank holiday weekend was pretty dire, the first bank holiday [in May] was incredible, and this was just an average week."

Justin Cannon, co-owner of Juna Home & Garden cafe, said: "It's been quite hard, people are struggling to get into the village because of the roadworks."

There will be two more phases where the pipe will be upgraded underneath Water Lane. The final phase should start in September and end in December at Weavers Lane.

Southern Water is not a statutory consultee on planning applications and has an obligation to connect new developments to its network when planning applications are approved.

The company said it held a drop-in session in April and sent out more than 3,000 customer letters. It said the sewage pipe upgrades were for several different developers.

A spokesperson said: "We apologise for the inconvenience caused to Angmering residents and businesses while we upgrade the sewer network along Water Lane.

"We have put rolling closures in place to minimise disruption along with details of diversion routes.

"We will continue to update affected customers on our progress."

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