North Bexhill Access Road

The North Bexhill Access Road (NBAR) forms a key infrastructure investment in the A21/A259 Hastings Bexhill Growth Corridor. It comprises a single carriageway road link between the A269 Ninfield Road and the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR), creating a strategic connection to unlock planned employment and housing growth in North Bexhill. The Scheme is a circa 2.4km, 2-direction, single carriageway and includes the provision of three roundabouts and one bridge structure.

Strategic roadway

The road serves a strategic purpose in linking Bexhill in the west and the A21 to the east of the designated Growth Corridor. By relieving congestion on the A269 and improving traffic flows onto the BHLR, the NBAR plays a key role in managing the distribution of existing traffic flows and new traffic generation from proposed employment and housing developments in North Bexhill. Critically, the NBAR provides direct access into employment land allocations under Policy BX3 of the 2006 Rother District Local Plan, with capacity for circa 38,000sqm of employment-generating floorspace, unlocking delivery of a major contribution towards the employment floorspace development targets now set in Policy BX3 of the 2014 Rother Local Plan Core Strategy, which refers to ‘at least 60,000 sqm’.

Unlocking urban extension and employment land

The NBAR also provides the road infrastructure to unlock the proposed urban extension in North East Bexhill with potential to directly unlock land for in the order of 780 new homes. The employment land has been allocated in the approved Rother Local Plan since 2006 but only with the NBAR and its connectivity to the new BHLR, can it be bought forward for development.

Enabling key sites for development

By providing strategic connectivity to the BHLR, the NBAR enables these key sites to be brought forward for development, contributing to the economic growth objectives of Rother District and the South East LEP Strategic Economic Plan. The BHLR is a key piece of economic infrastructure intended to facilitate delivery of the Growth Corridor. This objective cannot be achieved without complementary road provision to access key development areas – the NBAR is part of this wider strategic infrastructure that secures delivery of the employment and housing growth targets of the Growth Corridor. The Scheme is a planned strategic intervention to enable Policy BX 3 to be realised. The Scheme has the potential to bring forward employment sites which could contribute up to 66% of the total employment space requirement listed in Policy BX 3, and would therefore be a significant contributor to realising the local ambition for growing employment space capacity over the coming years.

The objectives of the project:

1. To support the development and employment growth potential of the A21/A259 Hastings Bexhill Growth Corridor: North Bexhill Access Road
2. To improve strategic access between North Bexhill, BHLR and the A21 and thereby improving strategic access to employment and housing sites in North Bexhill
3. To alleviate congestion on the A269 Ninfield Road through Sidley High Street specifically at: • Turkey Road mini-roundabout • Wrestwood Road junction • Town centre controlled crossings
4. To improve road safety by reducing the existing accidents along Sidley High Street
5. To provide for a more pedestrian friendly environment within Sidley High Street.

£579m of investment to East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock

In total the SELEP Growth Deal with Government has brought £579m of investment to East Sussex, Essex, Kent, Medway, Southend and Thurrock. Over the lifetime of the Growth Deal (2015-2021) we aim to deliver 78,000 jobs and 29,000 homes across the SELEP area, with the Deal set to attract a further £960m of investment into the South East over the six year period.

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