Every option for a key road scheme is unacceptable because of the environmental impact, a green pressure group has warned.

Friends of the Earth said the proposed Bexhill-Hastings link road would not solve economic problems or ease congestion.

The group urged councils to reconsider the "costly and damaging scheme".

It said building near the Combe Haven valley should be shelved for good and warned the road would lead to demands for new roads north of Hastings.

The Government rejected the Hastings and Bexhill bypasses three years ago.

Mike Turner, of Hastings Friends of the Earth, said people had not been given the opportunity to discuss alternatives to the road proposal.

He said: "The link road as planned is almost identical to the western bypass so it is almost back to square one.

"The only option they are looking at is this road scheme. There are lots of ways of reducing traffic, not increasing it, which this road is going to do."

Organisations backing the road, which include councils and business groups, believe the scheme is vital to tackle congestion and for economic development in the two towns.

Thursday March 18, 2004