Funding decision due on bridge replacement plans

Councillors are poised to decide whether to commit additional funds to replace a bridge in East Sussex.

East Sussex County Council's cabinet is due to decide on Tuesday whether to "re-direct" more than £11m towards plans to replace Exceat Bridge.

The structure, which forms part of the A259 between Seaford and Eastbourne, is to be transformed into a new two-lane, two-way alternative route.

The meeting comes a little more than a month after the project was set to be discontinued due to its rising costs.

Cabinet members had previously considered plans to construct a like-for-like replacement of the existing structure.

But officers changed their recommendation, saying they wished to explore whether money tied to the council's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) could be used.

In a new report to cabinet, officers say this change of course had been prompted by the involvement of the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company Limited (B&H Buses) in the project.

Following the bus company's intervention, the Department for Transport gave the council permission to reallocate £11.128m of BSIP funding.

Officers say the reallocation will result in some disruption to other projects within the BSIP.

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