Stockbridge Road Shut 10 Oct to 27 Nov: Diversion and Buses

Stockbridge Road will be closed to traffic from Saturday 10 October until Friday 27 November. The closure runs between the A27 Stockbridge roundabout and the junction with Grosvenor Road. SGN is replacing the gas main.

West Sussex County Council has now published its own page on the closure. It carries detail that was not in SGN’s leaflet: the planned end date, the diversion route, the loss of the Grosvenor Road bus stop and what the council is doing about buses.

The dates come from the works record shown on the county council’s page. It lists the closure as 10 October to 27 November, 24 hours a day. SGN’s own wording is “approximately seven weeks”.

What changes on 10 October

The county council and SGN’s leaflet set out the rules for the closure:

• No through traffic between the A27 roundabout and Grosvenor Road.
• Residents and shops inside the closure get vehicle access from the Grosvenor Road end only. There is no access from the A27.
• Walking and cycling through the closure stays open.
• The Grosvenor Road bus stop is suspended for the whole of the works. The council says a temporary stop will be provided nearby.
• School buses and other bus routes will be affected. Check with your operator.
• Bin collection days stay the same unless the council tells you otherwise.
• Emergency vehicles get gated, escorted access through the site 24 hours a day.

Shops and businesses on the road stay open. SGN asks people to keep using them.

The diversion

The county council gives the signed diversion as the A27 Chichester bypass onto the B2145, then right onto the B2201 Chichester Road at the Sidlesham triangle. Multi-way temporary lights will control that junction so that buses and other large vehicles have room to make the turn.

In practice that sends traffic for the south end of Stockbridge Road and Donnington south through Hunston and back north through Donnington. The council says the diversion route has been inspected, and that repairs and large-scale patching have been done so it can take the extra traffic.

Buses

The council is putting money into bus services for the peninsula. It says it will use funding from the Lane Rental Surplus Fund to “reinforce” services, so that bus passengers “across the peninsula have access to a reliable service”. It does not say how much.

It has also asked Community Transport Sussex to help the most vulnerable residents inside the closure, who will lose access to bus services. The council says it is working to give them “a lifeline service into Chichester” while the works last.

We could not read Stagecoach’s own service notice for the closure today. Its service update pages for Chichester and Bognor Regis returned no entries to us. So we are not listing which routes are diverted, or the location of the temporary stop, until we can read them from Stagecoach itself. Check the Stagecoach Chichester and Bognor Regis service updates before you travel.

Why it has to be a full closure

The county council says the road is not wide enough for traffic to pass the works. The gas main sits in the carriageway, and SGN has to connect homes and businesses on both sides.

SGN’s leaflet answers the questions people have been asking:

• Why not traffic lights? “Where the pipes are in the road there is insufficient road width available to safely allow vehicles to pass.”
• Why not work nights? The gas supply stays live throughout. SGN says working outside normal hours “would introduce additional risks”.
• Why not more engineers? Adding more in a confined space “can actually delay progress and increase safety risks”.
• Why is nobody on site sometimes? Engineers may be pressure testing, making connections inside properties, collecting materials or waiting for concrete to cure.

The pipe is, in SGN’s words, “a very old metal gas pipe that has had a number of emergency gas leaks”. Until now those leaks have been repaired overnight, when traffic is light.

It was due in January

According to the county council, SGN first proposed doing the work in January 2026. It was delayed after “significant concerns raised by councillors and bus operators”. The council says talks began in September 2025.

The timing that was agreed instead had three aims, in the council’s words:

• to allow time for preparatory work in the months before
• to keep key routes open and free-flowing during the busy summer
• to finish before winter, when demand for gas is higher

That preparatory work has been done. Gas mains on the side roads off Stockbridge Road were replaced earlier this year, so connections could be made under lighter traffic management.

There was no public consultation, and there did not need to be. SGN is a statutory undertaker. It has a regulatory requirement to replace all metal “tier 1” mains near homes and businesses by 2032. Tier 1 means pipes 8 inches across or smaller. The county council says that, as highway authority, it “cannot prevent statutory works from being completed”.

Then Birdham Road

When the closure lifts, SGN moves south. From Monday 30 November, for about four weeks, it works on Birdham Road, Donnington, between The Meadows and Strides Court. That phase runs under multi-way temporary traffic lights, not a closure, according to the notice posted by Chichester City Council.

SGN says it will lift the Stockbridge Road closure early if the work finishes inside the seven weeks.

What it means for you

• If you drive in from Donnington, Birdham, the Witterings or Selsey, your road into the city shuts on 10 October. Allow for the diversion through Hunston from that Saturday.
• If you live or run a shop inside the closure, you can still drive in and out, but only from the Grosvenor Road end.
• If you use the Grosvenor Road bus stop, it will not be served. Look for the temporary stop, and check Stagecoach’s notices.
• If you walk or cycle, you can still get through.
• Questions about the works go to SGN customer service on 0800 912 1700 or customer@sgn.co.uk. If you smell gas, call 0800 111 999.

The closure also lands while the city centre is dug up for the mobile network works, which now run to 22 December. Everything else affecting journeys around the city this autumn is on our Chichester roadworks and travel page, and car park charges are on our parking in Chichester page.