The Exceat Bridge

Timeline of activities to date

March-April 2025: . Following publication of the Cabinet report, one of the principal bus operators in the county came forward to suggest we explore the use of Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding as they considered a two-lane replacement bridge at Exceat to be of higher priority than other bus priority measures in our BSIP. This was reported to Cabinet on 4 March.

The reallocation of some of the BSIP funding to the Exceat Bridge project will require formal approval from the East Sussex Enhanced Bus Service Partnership and the Department for Transport. Therefore, Cabinet has deferred its decision in order to allow further discussions to take place. We have now commenced discussions with the DfT BSIP team.

February-March 2025: We are seeking permission from ESCC Cabinet and the Government to change the design of the bridge.

May 2024: Negotiations with landowners and the Compulsory Purchase Order process for the required areas of land to deliver the scheme are ongoing.

Construction is expected to start in 2025 and take around 18 months to complete. Some environmental works will begin in late 2024.

The temporary traffic lights currently in place will remain until the new bridge is complete.

October 2023: Notices regarding Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs), a Side Roads Order and a Bridge Order will be posted from Friday 20 October. There will be a statutory six week objection period, which will run until Monday 4 December.

The notices have been sent to the land owners. Notices have also been placed on site around the Exceat Bridge and put in the local news press and London Gazette. The notices will be in the papers for two weeks and on site for six weeks. There will also be hard copies of the notices available at County Hall in Lewes, Seaford Library and Eastbourne Library.

The orders allow for changes to the road layout as part of the construction of the new bridge including: realignment of the existing road, public right of way and local accesses; re-profiling the river and road embankments; addition of traffic calming measures and provision of a habitat area. You can see full details of the Plans and copies of the Orders at the links below.

The new bridge will be constructed next to the current bridge which will mean the road and pavements can stay open throughout almost all of the construction period. In all cases, alternative routes will be provided if there is a need to briefly close a road or footpath.

Please see below for accessible copies:

April 2023: Detailed designs for the new bridge completed.

December 2022: Planning permission granted by the South Downs National Park Authority with conditions in place to protect the natural landscape.

October 2021: East Sussex County Council is pleased to have been awarded funding for the project from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund. You can read a copy of the application form here (opens in a new tab). To find copies of the supporting information, technical data and appendices, simply visit the East Sussex County Council Freedom of Information page (opens in a new tab) and click on the East Sussex Disclosure Log link. Once in the Log enter the search term "Exceat Bridge".

August 2020: We carried out a public consultation in the summer of 2020. We received over 1000 responses on our proposals with 79% in favour of replacing the current bridge. We have used the feedback to further improve the designs. Further details can be found on our consultation page (opens in a new tab).