Political opinion: Calls for Crawley to receive its ‘fair share’ of highways funding

At a time when residents’ complaints about road conditions in Crawley appear to be at an all-time high, it will come as a surprise to many to discover that West Sussex’s proposed capital delivery programme for road repairs over the next 12 months proposes repair schemes for just 12 roads in Crawley, the same allocation as was made in the 2023-24 council year. During the same period of time, Chichester has been allocated 125 schemes, receiving a quarter of the county’s road repair schemes.

While Crawley occupies just two percent of the county’s land mass, it has by far the greatest population density and is responsible for 26% of the county’s entire economic activity, with two-thirds of the town’s workforce commuting in on a daily basis. Consequently, the town’s roads are by far most heavily used in West Sussex.

Commenting on the figures, Labour’s candidate for Crawley, Peter Lamb, said: “This allocation is insulting and will mean Crawley’s roads continue to degrade over the next 12 months. West Sussex County Council’s Conservative leadership are happy enough to take 78% of Crawley’s council tax and the business rates which come from our strong local economy, but have no interest in the town when it comes to meeting residents’ needs.

“The fact that so many of the leading Conservatives at the county council represent parts of our town, just adds insult to injury. They can see the harm being caused to their residents, but just keep toeing the party line.

“I call upon West Sussex County Council to allocate Crawley our fair share of road repair schemes. This isn’t an issue Crawley residents are going to forget about, as they will learn at next year’s county council elections if they continue to let our roads rot.”