UPDATE: (Saturday, June 7th, 2025) I’m not sure if any of you, my readers, are on Facebook – but I’m pasting the FB discussion I had with Selsey CDC Cllr Donna Johnson on The Selsey Grapevine news group yesterday about the state of the Stagecoach bus stops on the B2145 – and especially the exposed one opposite the Memorial Hall and recreation ground at Sidlesham which youngsters might use. Why are there no safety railings there? Hope you can view the link. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EfhrBDzQs/
UPDATE 2: (Saturday, June 7th, 2025) My Green Cllr Sarah Sharp has sent me the information WSCC has supplied “stakeholders” about the scheduled roadworks on the B2145 near Green Lane commencing June 27th, 2025. These repairs are due to take place overnight from 8pm to 6pm over the upcoming weekend, weather permitting, when this section of the road will be closed and diversions put in place. Hilary Gavin
By HILARY GAVIN
FINALLY, I’m writing with an update on repairs to the disintegrating stretch of road beside the Stagecoach bus stop at the Green Lane T-junction on the B2145 Chichester to Selsey road just south of my village of Hunston.
I have now been reliably informed by my local Green Party WSCC councillor Sarah Sharp that I can find information on the one.network about proposed work scheduled to begin, weather permitting, on June 27th, 2025. Saying this, I’m not sure how long this “work” will take because Cllr Sharp didn’t say in her email message to me below which I am posting here along with a screenshot of the one.network map above for your information:
EMAIL MESSAGE TO ME FROM WSCC Cllr Sarah Sharp (Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025) Councillor Sarah Sharp she/her (Mrs)
Green Party County Councillor for Chichester South
Email: Sarah.Sharp@westsussex.gov.uk
“On the one.network if the dropdown menu top left is changed from ‘Today’ to ‘Next three months’ then the permit becomes visible as per screenshot below. The work is currently scheduled to begin 27th June subject to weather conditions, emergencies, permit approval, etc.
To clarify the extent of the works, these will extend approx. 90m north of the junction, 60m to the south, and 15m westwards into Green Lane.”
I suppose I should now consult the one. network app, or website, to find out how long this work will take in the peak summer holiday season when families will, presumably, be heading down from the A27 to the Seal Bay Resort in Selsey.
As local residents know, there are only two viable main routes driving from Chichester to Selsey, either by taking the B2145, via Hunston, or the windy B2201 past the village of Donnington after joining it from the A286 at Stockbridge.
When I was growing up in the Sixties and early Seventies in Stockbridge, Donnington, there wasn’t a Co-op store on the corner of the mini roundabout where southbound motorists turn left for the Donnington B2201 road but the Selsey Tram pub with its Off Licence stood there across the road from the (Jet?) petrol station and car wash we used as a family.
Of course, both the pub and petrol station are long gone now, but the Donnington Village Hall is still there on the corner of Stockbridge Gardens where I went as a Brownie. I was a Seconder back then in the Sixties in the Forget-Me-Not pack, if any of you, my readers, are interested. Somehow, I doubt it!
My family lived in Crosbie Close, where I was born, and I remember my parents ruling out visiting the beaches at the Witterings and Bracklesham Bay during the day in the summer holidays because the A286 would be choked with holidaymakers eager to take advantage of sunny weather.
Instead, we’d wait until the cooler evenings when my sister and I would wrap our “swimmers” in our beach towels and Dad could drive both of us, and our Mum, down to the seaside for “a quick dip”. More often than not, we’d swim off the pebble beach at Bracklesham Bay in the evenings and make longer family day trips to West Wittering where we’d spend hours relaxing together. Bliss!
I can only imagine the Stockbridge stretch of the A286 from the A27 roundabout will be at a standstill on Friday, June 27th, 2025, when the work is scheduled to take place beside the Green Lane T-junction on the B2145 and I have no idea why WSCC Highways officials didn’t consider this possibility when scheduling repairs.
Of course, holidaymakers heading to Selsey and the Seal Bay Resort can avoid driving along the twisty B2201 Donnington Road, past the Church, if they continue on the A286 to the left-hand turning at Whophams Lane south of the entrance to the swanky Chichester Marina. Mind you, I doubt many families would want to stay on the A286 after Stockbridge as I remember the road being at a standstill most days during the summer holidays when I was a child.
I can only imagine this is still the case today given the increase in the volume of traffic on Britain’s roads over the past 50 years – but I wouldn’t know as I have avoided driving along the A286 at all costs in the summer as an adult.
Anyhow, I – for one – am glad WSCC will be repairing the stretch of road beside the Stagecoach bus stop at the Green Lane T-junction but I don’t think it is fanciful to imagine there might be some road rage incidents on the A286 and B2201 as “hot and bothered” motorists face diversions later this month.
On a different matter, I attended a lively talk by Dr Bill Martin on A (not The) History of Sidlesham yesterday evening at Sidlesham Memorial Hall (see photos of venue above) which was informative and well-attended. My lodger and I took the Stagecoach bus fom Hunston so I could enjoy a glass of wine during the social event which lasted around hour and a half in all.
However, I was dismayed when we stepped off the no 51 Stagecoach service on our way to the venue and the kindly driver warned us to watch out for a metal stump in the ground at the miniscule southbound bus stop opposite the Sidlesham Memorial Hall entrance and just past the Rookery Lane turn-off.
Our thoughtful bus driver told us that it was the remains of the safety railings at the stop and I couldn’t help thinking how dangerous it must be for youngsters wanting to take the bus to reach the village’s recreation grounds opposite whilst my lodger and I waited patiently for the long line of traffic, which had built up behind our departing bus, to clear before safely crossing the B2145.
I’m not going to write up a report of yesterday’s enjoyable talk because I want to do more research on Sidlesham’s history myself – but I did take copious notes.
Anyhow, I’m sure concerned parents and villagers and councillors have reported worries about the safety of the southbound bus stop opposite Sidlesham Memorial Hall to WSCC Highways department before.
As yet, I have no idea what happened to the safety railings there, but I’ve no doubt that locals are well aware of its history and I’d love to hear from you if you do.
By HILARY GAVIN
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A Journalist and writer based in Hunston, West Sussex, who wants to revive the local press on the Manhood Peninsula to inform readers about the stories that affect them and their surrounding villages.
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