Residents 'very fearful' as flooding hits again

Residents in an area of West Sussex are "very fearful" as they have been hit by flooding once again, a local councillor says.

Gill Yeates, a Liberal Democrat councillor on Arun District Council, has called for a total audit of the area and a "really, really big plan" to tackle flooding.

It comes as two government flood warnings have been issued on the River Arun and Western River Rother in Fittleworth and Pulborough.

West Sussex County Council (WSCC) said it had carried out "large levels of work" to ensure its drainage systems were working as efficiently as possible.

It said its programme of work since April 2025 included clearing 2.4km (1.5 miles) of ditches across 29 areas and 36 drainage improvement schemes.

Chichester MP Jess Brown-Fuller said several roads in the area had been closed because of the "severe" flooding.

Sidlesham Primary School had also been forced to shut because of the flooding.

Phil Ladd, who moved near the A29 just over a year go, said he was told by residents flooding had been an issue for years.

He said trips to the supermarket and nearby retail and industrial estates would normally be a five or six-minute journey, but "that's turning into sort of 35, 45 minutes now".

Joy Dennis, WSCC's cabinet member for highways and transport, said there were "a lot of factors that make this quite complicated".

She explained that the council had looked at rerouting the A29, but it would cost "into the hundreds of millions" and could be a plan for the future.

"That is probably what we're seeing as the solution long-term," she added.

"But it's how we can alleviate the issues in the short to medium term."

Dennis said the Environment Agency had identified the area as one with a "very high risk area of surface water flooding".

"We are looking again at the issues to see what we can do to try and minimise or alleviate some of the issues," she added.

Liz Bentley, chief executive of the Royal Meteorological Society, said it had been "one of the wettest Januarys on record".

"This is only going to get worse as our climate continues to change, so we're predicting that the winters are going to get wetter - so, wetter that what they are at the moment, and the summers are going to get drier," she explained.

Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.