For many people across Bexhill and Hastings, the A21 is simply part of the daily routine - the road to work, to school, to opportunity. But in villages like Flimwell, Hurst Green and Whatlington it is something else entirely: a constant presence that shapes, and too often disrupts, everyday life.
These villages sit directly on one of the South East’s most important strategic routes, yet the road that runs through it is not fit for that role. Around 20,000 vehicles pass through the village each day, many of them heavy goods vehicles. These are not bypassed communities; they are villages forced to function around a trunk road. The consequences are immediate and visible.
The primary school in Hurst Green sits directly on the A21. Parents stopping to drop off or collect their children must do so on a fast, busy national route. Pavements are narrow and unprotected. Crossing the road is not just inconvenient - at times, it feels unsafe.
Despite this, the A21 south of Pembury remains largely single carriageway - a design entirely unsuited to the volume and type of traffic it now carries. The result is an inconsistent and fragile route, prone to congestion, closures and serious accidents.
When incidents happen, the impact on villages like Hurst Green is immediate. Traffic backs up quickly, engines idle for long periods, and surrounding rural lanes become overwhelmed with diverted vehicles. The recent installation of traffic lights in Hurst Green at the junction of the A21 and A264 has demonstrated how tailbacks quickly develop. What should be a through-route becomes a source of local gridlock, stress and disruption.
There has been investment in safety measures in recent years, and that is welcome. But these are incremental fixes - traffic lights here, junction improvements there. They manage symptoms without addressing the underlying problem: the road simply does not have the capacity or resilience required of a strategic route.
We have already seen what a proper solution looks like. Sections of the A21 that have been dualled further north have delivered safer, more reliable journeys. Locally, schemes like the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road have shown how better infrastructure can unlock homes, jobs and investment.
For Hurst Green, dualling the A21 would transform daily life. It require a by-pass around the village, removing through-traffic which would improve safety around the school, reduce noise and pollution, and reconnect a community currently split by a constant flow of vehicles.
More broadly, it would strengthen the link between our coastal towns and the wider economy, helping to tackle the longstanding challenges of low productivity and limited opportunity.
This is not just about transport. It is about fairness - ensuring that communities like Hurst Green are not expected to carry the burden of a road network that no longer meets modern needs.
This is why last week, I called for dualling of the A21 in an Adjournment Debate. The arguments for investment are strong. I am also working cross-party with MP colleagues whose constituencies lie along the A21 route to campaign for serious investment in this road. We have re-formed the A21 Reference Group of MPs and have requested a meeting with the Roads Minister to present our case.
The case is there. The need is clear. What is required now is the decision to act.