The A22 at Wych Cross closes overnight from 17 to 29 August, sending East Grinstead traffic round the A264 and A26. Plus Maresfield signals and station parking.

Crowborough sits on a crossroads of single-carriageway A-roads with no bypass and no alternative worth the name, so one closure moves the whole town’s traffic. Two schemes are live right now and one of them shuts the main road to East Grinstead overnight for a fortnight.

Everything below was checked against East Sussex Highways’ own scheme pages on 9 August 2026. Dates on highway works slip, so treat them as the plan rather than the promise.

Shut now, or shutting shortly

A22 Millbrook Hill and Wych Cross, Nutley: full night closure, 17 to 29 August

Balfour Beatty is patching the carriageway on the A22 between Crowborough Road and Hindleap Lane, at Millbrook Hill and Wych Cross. The road is fully closed to through traffic from 8pm to 6am on weeknights, Monday 17 August to Saturday 29 August 2026.

This one was originally booked for 27 July to 8 August. It was put back after nightjars and Dartford warblers, both protected species, were found on the site and the council had to put measures in place to work around them. The August dates are the ones that count.

The signed diversion runs A264, A267, Bunny Lane, A26 and the reverse, which for anyone heading from Crowborough to East Grinstead or the M23 after 8pm means going the long way round through Tunbridge Wells or Mayfield. Property access inside the works is managed by the site team, with delays while vehicles are escorted.

Full detail on the East Sussex Highways scheme page.

High Street, Maresfield: temporary signals to 21 August

Repairs to the stone retaining wall holding the embankment below Bonners Church of England School, on the High Street in Maresfield. Joints are being cleared, repointed and damaged sections rebuilt.

Work runs Monday 3 August to Friday 21 August 2026, 7am to 5.30pm, with no weekend working. The road stays open under temporary traffic signals, so this is a queueing problem rather than a diversion problem, but Maresfield is on the direct run from Crowborough down to Uckfield and the A272, and the signals sit in the middle of it. Scheme page.

Roadworks affecting Crowborough in August 2026 Two schemes on a calendar bar covering 1 to 31 August 2026. High Street Maresfield runs 3 to 21 August in daytime hours with the road open under temporary signals. The A22 at Millbrook Hill and Wych Cross runs 17 to 29 August as a full closure on weeknights between 8pm and 6am. The two overlap between 17 and 21 August. Two schemes, and five days when both are on August 2026. Source: East Sussex Highways scheme pages, checked 9 August 2026. 1 8 15 22 29 31 Maresfield High Street wall 3 to 21 Aug, 7am to 5.30pm, signals, road open A22 Wych Cross Millbrook Hill 17 to 29 Aug, 8pm to 6am, FULL CLOSURE both live, 17 to 21 Aug The A22 closure is nights only, so it hits the drive home from East Grinstead and Gatwick, not the morning commute.

Also on the 2026/27 programme near Crowborough

East Sussex Highways publishes a live list of current works. These are the ones in or near the Crowborough patch, each with its own scheme page on live.eastsussexhighways.com:

  • A267 Argos Hill, Mayfield: drainage works
  • A264 East Grinstead Road, Withyham: carriageway improvements
  • Ladies Mile, Withyham: drainage investigations
  • B2188 Cherry Garden Hill, Groombridge: drainage investigations
  • A272 Batts Bridge Road, Piltdown: road stud replacements
  • A267 Mayfield Road and A272 Summer Hill, Five Ashes: road marking refreshments
  • Muddles Green, Chiddingly and Sheepstreet Lane, Etchingham: drainage investigations

The county’s planned-works map is updated weekly and covers the whole 2026/27 financial year, including grass cutting and patching schedules. It does not show reactive repairs, so a pothole gang that appears overnight will not be on it.

The routes that matter

Crowborough has four ways out and each one fails differently.

  • The A26 through the town. Beacon Road and Eridge Road are the same road, and it is the one most of the town uses every day: north to Eridge and Tunbridge Wells, south to Uckfield and on to Lewes. Single carriageway throughout, with the town-centre junctions and the supermarket entrance as the pinch points.
  • West to the A22 at Nutley. Crowborough Road runs out to meet the A22 at Millbrook Hill, and the A22 is the route to East Grinstead, Gatwick and the M23. That is the road closed on August nights, and the signed diversion is a detour of many miles, which tells you how little there is in parallel.
  • The A267 east. Mayfield and Heathfield, and the fallback when the A22 is down. Narrow, hilly and slow.
  • South to the coast. Eastbourne, Hailsham and Polegate are reached via the A22 or the A267 and take longer than the map suggests, because almost none of the route is dual carriageway.

Parking, and the charge people miss

Crowborough station car park is run by APCOA and has 119 spaces. It costs £6.60 all day Monday to Friday, £3.40 after 5pm, and £3.20 at weekends, with a weekly ticket at £25.40 and an annual at £834.50. Blue badge holders park free once registered. Full detail on the trains page.

Ashdown Forest car parks now charge. All 45 of them, at £2 for an hour, £2.50 for two, £4 for four and £5 all day, paid by app, phone or the machines at the Forest Centre. Blue badge holders are exempt. This catches out people who remember the Forest as free parking, and it applies to the walking car parks as well as the visitor centre. The location code is the same at every car park, 661122, so you can move between them on one ticket. Details on the Conservators’ parking page.

Reporting a problem

Potholes, blocked drains, broken street lights and damaged signs go to East Sussex Highways, not to Wealden District Council. The report form is at live.eastsussexhighways.com/report-problem, and the contact centre takes calls on 0345 60 80 193.

Wealden District Council handles bins, planning and council tax. East Sussex County Council handles the roads, and will keep doing so until both are replaced by a single East Sussex unitary authority in April 2028.

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