Walberton and Binsted pupils object to A27 Arundel bypass

A survey was carried out by Year 5 pupils at Walberton and Binsted CE Primary school, who have now submitted letters to National Highways (NH), West Sussex County Council and their local MP, outlining their objections to the controversial A27 Arundel bypass. 

Pupils decided to write letters opposing the “grey” route based on increased pollution, the negative impact on children’s health, and the harm the road will reportedly cause to animals. 

They say the key factor is that the current brochure detailing the plans fails to mark the school clearly.

Their letters also highlighted how The Street in Walberton is a key cause for concern because of the predicted increase in traffic.

All photos copyright to Karen Becker – children posting letters with Head, Mrs Brockhurst

Cara, 9, said: “I am against this proposed bypass because it will destroy animal habitats, increase air pollution and this will subsequently become a health hazard for the children at Walberton and Binsted School. 

“In the NH brochure (pages 14 and 18) the map, where our school is situated, was covered by white boxes, very conveniently, so that any reader would not know that there was a school nearby.

“We found out through our traffic survey that the increase will not be the 1,300 more vehicles that they stated in their brochure on pages 36-37, this is actually only a 20 per cent increase using our figures. 

“I hope they think very carefully before going ahead with this project.” 

Whilst working on their “The Circle of Life” school project, the pupils asked their teacher, Karen Becker, about the new bypass and the effect it may have on local wildlife. 

She said she realised the children’s concerns could be an opportunity to extend their persuasive writing lessons and organised for the children to carry out a traffic survey in Walberton.

The children applied their recently learned maths skills to analyse the data they gathered. 

They recorded 270 vehicles per hour, when they used the NH prediction of a 42 per cent increase in traffic over a 24-hour period the pupils’ data represented an extra 2,722 vehicles over 24 hours – more than double NH's own calculation of 1,300 additional vehicles. 

Year 5 pupils then wrote persuasive letters to NH and sent copies of their letters to West Sussex County Council, Chichester District Council, the government, and the MP for Arundel. 

Ms Becker said: “All children have pushed for the letters even the reluctant writers have worked hard to put their views across. 

“The children who have been very animated about this important subject even completed letters when they have been at home with Covid.” 

The children are asking that NH rethink the grey route, consider alternatives away from their school, and to reflect on conservation and the climate. 

Headteacher, Mrs Brockhurst said: “This has a huge potential impact on our pupils’ health and wellbeing as they frequently engage in outside learning opportunities in our playground, field and wonderful environmental area. 

“Having recently achieved our Gold Flag Award for Eco Schools, our efforts to listen to our pupils on how they want to shape both their future and their school environment have been seriously knocked.” 

The National Highways Agency say over 800 people have had their say on proposals to create a new dual carriageway on the A27 at Arundel.

The statutory consultation started on January 11, and the agency has held six in person events, as well as online consultations.

It will close on Tuesday, March 8.

National Highways senior project manager Andrew Jackson said: "We thank the children from each school for their hard work, and it's great to see how engaged they are in shaping future road infrastructure and their local environment. 

"We will feed their views into the Arundel Bypass consultation which draws to a close tomorrow.

"There is still time for people to have their say, and we are of course interested in all views.

"If people still have any concerns I encourage them to feed them back to us through the consultation."