These are £34m worth of improvements planned to A22 between Eastbourne and Hailsham

On Monday (March 14), Cllr Claire Dowling, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, is set to consider the next steps for a series of improvement projects at five junctions along the A22 corridor in Hailsham and Stone Cross.

At the meeting, Cllr Dowling will be asked to agree for the proposals to move ahead to a ‘detailed design’ phase, as well as approve a bid to secure £29.2m of government funding for the works. 

In a report to be considered by Cllr Dowling, a council officer said: “As part of the Major Road Network (MRN), the A22 corridor performs a key function in supporting the economic connectivity of our county. 

“With the existing and planned growth in the south Wealden and Eastbourne area at the southern end of the corridor, there is an identified need to ensure that the A22 continues to provide its existing functionality by supporting the additional housing coming forward in the area through the respective Local Plans for Eastbourne and Wealden as well as enabling access to existing and new jobs as well as leisure and shopping.”

The proposals (pictured) include plans to create a new roundabout at the Hempstead Lane junction and to replace the A22 Golden Jubilee Way/Dittons Road roundabout with a traffic-light controlled crossroads.

Works are also proposed at both the Boship, Eagles and A27/A22 Golden Jubilee Way roundabouts. All three roundabouts would be expanded with additional lanes.

The Boship Roundabout would also become traffic light controlled, while a dedicated left turn sliproad from the A295 to the A22 would be added to the Eagles Roundabout. Both these roundabouts would also have toucan crossings for pedestrians and cyclists. 

In all, the works are expected to cost somewhere in the region of £34.4m. The council hopes to secure around £29.2m of this from the government, with a further £5.2m expected to come from development contributions and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) monies secured by Wealden District Council.

All five proposals went out for public consultation last year. According to meeting papers at least 45 to 50 per cent of respondents were in favour of each of the proposed improvements, with Eagles roundabout receiving the highest amount of support (with 67 per cent of respondents in agreement). 

However, the consultation also saw some concerns raised about the potential for increased congestion as a result of adding traffic lights to a number of the junctions, as well as the disruption from the road works themselves.

Despite these concerns, council officers say the alternative would create more significant congestion and highway pressure.  

The report said: “From the work undertaken to support the now withdrawn Wealden Local Plan, these improvements are necessary to support the housing and employment growth plans … and if these improvements were not implemented … the road network would experience further congestion in the future; with increased queuing at these junctions, increased journey times and a general degradation in the efficiency of the highway network in the Eastbourne/South Wealden area.”

Preliminary proposals for the Lottbridge, Birch, Seaside and Shinewater roundabouts in Eastbourne were also published for consultation last year but these are at an ‘earlier stage of development and will be delivered subsequent to the A22 proposals’.