Leading councillors are being recommended to use "all effective means" to try to reverse a decision to scrap an Arundel bypass.

They will be told next week the Secretary of State for Transport's decision not to fund improvements on the A27 was an "extreme disappointment".

A report to Arun District Council says: "All the local councils involved- parish, town, borough and county- plus the regional agencies were staggered by the decision and cannot understand how the environmental argument he has used has over-ridden the reasoning of all previous studies into the merits for a bypass."

Meanwhile, controversial landscaped acoustic bunds along the Angmering bypass look set to be approved, despite objections.

Angmering Parish Council and several residents have objected to the bunds because they say they look unsightly.

Concern has also been raised about drainage problems.

But officers at Arun District Council are recommending councillors give retrospective planning permission to the bunds, at land south of Ecclesden Manor in High Street, Angmering, because they blend in with the area.

A report to councillors says: "The earth bunds, together with the acceptable planting and proposed landscaping scheme, and due to the location of existing trees and other vegetation, are not readily obtrusive in the street scene, nor do they conflict with the established character of the surrounding rural area."

Councillors meet to discuss the planning application next Wednesday, September 10.