THE Highways Agency is to spend £400,000 on improving the main road into Polegate following the completion of the town's bypass.

The £25 million bypass opened amid fanfare last month after more than two years of work.

Highways Agency officials said the 1.8-mile dual carriageway, which skirts the north of Polegate, would cut congestion and provide a safer and faster route into Eastbourne.

But now agency bosses are planning vast expenditure on various safety measures on the former main route.

They include improvements to footways, junctions and to crossing facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.

People living nearby will be consulted and an exhibition will be held at Polegate Church Hall on Tuesday, August 13.

Ing Fisher, the Agency's A27 route manager, said: "It is our usual procedure to hand over a trunk road to a local highway authority if a new section of road has largely removed through-traffic from it.

"The coming consultation is the start of the legal processes that have to be followed. We don't intending to make the transfer without putting the old A27 into good order first."

Improvement work is expected to last 16 weeks, with work to begin in the first half of next year.

Bob Wilkins, East Sussex County Council's director of transport and environment, said: "Removal of traffic from the town on to the bypass gives an opportunity to change things that must be grasped.

"The community in Polegate needs to be fully engaged in developing ideas on how this should be done.

"We'll look to best practice elsewhere to ensure we end up with the right solution. I welcome the Highway's Agency's commitment to put the old road into good order."