Budget Resolutions
The Chancellor has promised growth in every postcode, but those of us in the south-east could be forgiven for thinking that the Government have forgotten us altogether. Take London out of the equation, and the south-east, and Sussex in particular, does not seem to be part of the Government’s infrastructure strategy at all. While London has the <span id="643" class="column-number" data-column-number="643"></span>highest per capita public transport investment in the country, by contrast the south-east has the lowest of any English region, at 11% below the national average. Where I live in Newhaven, nothing stands out more than the A259—the main coastal road that runs the length of East Sussex, passing through Seaford and Newhaven, as well as serving the hugely popular Seven Sisters country park, which attracts visitors from around the world. The road is vital to the local economy. Department for Transport figures show that more than 19,000 vehicles squeeze along South Way in Newhaven every day, which has a massive impact on neighbourhoods and businesses. The traffic system, designed in the 1970s, is now fundamentally failing our coastal communities. Newhaven is a strategic port and Seaford is a town of over 25,000 residents that attracts tens of thousands of visitors to its beautiful beach and serves as a major access point to the famous Seven Sisters cliffs. The road is a critical artery for our area and, like all coast roads, it is hard to expand it in its current location. In 2023, a multi-year major road network study recommended a package of upgrades, including safety improvements to junctions like Bishopstone Road. The county council submitted its business case to the Government to fund the upgrade package, but that is where it stopped. Will the Minister say whether the Government will commit the money necessary to get the A259 finally moving, and press the Reform-Conservative administration at East Sussex county council to get on with funding immediate improvements, like the Bishopstone Road junction, to boost roads in our area? The Chancellor has said that he wants more houses to be built as a result of this Budget, but building more houses without the necessary infrastructure is a road to nowhere. I am very clear about this: it is not reasonable or fair to ask residents in my community to just accept more and more housing, while they watch their roads clog up and their public services deteriorate and while they cannot get access to a GP. Take Ringmer, a beautiful village in my constituency, where over 1,600 new homes have been proposed as part of the district council’s local plan process. It is worth noting that the village currently has only 2,000 households. I have heard Ministers refer to people in villages like Ringmer, who are concerned about how their communities can possibly cope with so much new housing, as nimbys. That is grossly unfair and frankly insulting. If we want house building and growth, the Government need to offer communities a fair deal, not call them names. Housing plans must be led by need. Too much house building is just waved through and sometimes it is not even built at all. If the Chancellor wants to build Britain, he needs to invest in roads, schools, health facilities and public transport to make the new houses and the communities in which they are built truly sustainable, otherwise we are just building problems for the future. This Budget contains many warm words. However, the residents of Lewes, Seaford, Newhaven, Polegate and our local villages will judge it based on what actually changes for them.