Unimpeded traffic flow has been reinstated on the A21 at Baldslow until 20 January.

Traffic controls at Queensway Gateway Road junction suspended

Users of the A21 in Baldslow where the Queensway Gateway Road junction is being built face an easier journey over the Christmas period following the suspension of the traffic management scheme. However, it remains unclear when in the New Year the project will be completed, as Hastings & Rye MP Helena Dollimore found out when she asked. Nick Terdre reports.

Motorists are now able to travel freely up and down the A21 from the turnoff to Dunelm and Pets at Home to where the road passes under The Ridge after the alternating one-way flow along a single lane was suspended temporarily on 20 December by East Sussex Highways.

However, the agency warned that “The road will be closed between 10pm and 6am to minimise disruption,” though some motorists may be of the view that this adds to disruption, there being no direct way of accessing the A21 from The Ridge or vice versa. Maplehurst Road, which previously provided a link, is closed except to emergency vehicles and residents, and other motorists who take this route will be identified by automatic number plate recognition cameras and reported to the police.

Traffic controls will be reintroduced on 20 January.

The traffic management scheme came into operation in early September when work began to install a traffic light junction linking the Queenway Gateway Road via Whitworth Road and Junction Road to the A21 at Sedlescombe Road North.

According to the schedule announced at that time, night-time closures were due to start in mid November and continue until the end of January, while the junction was expected to become operational by the end of the year.

Diagram showing the location of works to install the junction between Queensway Gateway Road and the A21 just below The Ridge. At present there is no direct way for traffic to access the A21 from The Ridge and vice versa (image: East Sussex Highways).

No date is now given for when the junction will become operational in East Sussex Highways’ latest update, which says merely that, “The improvement work will continue in the New Year…The road will again be closed whilst the traffic signals are put in place.”

On 13 November MP Helena Dollimore wrote to Rupert Clubb, ESCC’s director of communities, economy and transport, complaining of businesses suffering a serious loss of revenue which would have a knock-on effect on jobs and residents experiencing huge increases in journey times, and asking for precise details of changes announced to the traffic management scheme, their timeframe and the forecast effect on traffic flow in Hastings.

On her Facebook page the MP said she has received an “unsatisfactory explanation of why the works are taking so long.” An East Sussex County Council spokesperson told Hastings Observer that “Work on site has been delayed due to significant remedial works required along Whitworth Road, which are now near completion, along with a burst water main that has now been fixed.”

The statement gave no date for completion of the works, saying only that all options were being explored “for accelerating construction in the New Year.”

Local residents will not be surprised to hear of further delays to the Queensway Gateway Road, which has been dogged by an inability to meet schedules since Sea Change Sussex, ESCC’s original delivery partner, received planning permission in late 2015. Its original completion date was November 2016.

The project was stalled for several years until July, when ESCC received a £2.5m grant from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to connect the new road to the A21, at which point it decided to drop Sea Change and took on Balfour Beatty to finish the job.

Helena Dollimore has started a petition asking ESCC to “SORT IT OUT!”.

Traffic management scheme in operation on 18 December, shortly before it was suspended.

This article was amended by Nick Terdre on 22 December 2024.

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