Kent County Council shelving A249 project has turned Maidstone’s road into a “dogs dinner” says retired banker

A major town’s roads are now a “dog’s dinner” following the shelving of a key A249 project designed to ease congestion, it has been claimed. Resident Ian Stuart says the years-long saga of worsening traffic jams in Maidstone can only be fixed by a major bypass.

Resident Ian Stuart at the A249 roundabout

Work at the edge of the Kent Medical Campus, on the outskirts of the county town, was put on hold by Kent County Council (KCC) earlier this year[1] when it emerged the cost would exceed the GBP11.4m budget. The project, part of wider scheme taking in junction seven of the M20, was aimed at relieving congestion on the A249 into Bearsted Road and New Cut Road.

Retired NatWest banker Mr Stuart, who has lived in nearby Weavering for almost 20 years, said: “It’s just an abandoned site at present. And until this gets sorted it will just continue to be a dog’s dinner.” The 75-year-old said traffic surveys were carried out six years ago and the work was meant to have been finished in the autumn of 2020.

New schools, an innovation centre, care home, a new superstore and housing have all skewed the original traffic surveys which found 4,500 cars used that section of the A249 at peak times. Critics, including Mr Stuart, doubt whether the scheme would have any other effect than pushing the queues towards the A20 at the bottom end of New Cut Road.

The A249 roundabout near Bearsted where widening work has been shelved

Mr Stuart added: “The amount of traffic is increasing exponentially and will continue to do so while the development continues with likely even more to come.

“It can’t be blamed on the lockdowns during the pandemic because most of the work was meant to have been finished by then. “But, realistically, all it would do is push the queues down to the A20.

What is needed is the Leeds-Langley bypass, but they’ve been talking about that for 30 or 40 years and it’s not going to happen any time soon.” KCC announced recently it is looking for a new contractor to complete the work after rising costs caused the opening phase to be shelved. The council is under severe financial pressure having announced recently it must identify more than GBP100m of savings in the next two years to avoid going bust.

Borough councillor for the area, Val Springett, said the issue merely highlights the need for a Leeds-Langley by-pass or relief road.

Cllr Val Springett says the issue highlights the need for a Leeds-Langley bypass

The A249 improvements are “little tweaks” masking a bigger problem, she said.

The new roundabout would have the consequence of moving congestion towards the A20 via New Cut Road. Cllr Springett said: “I have been saying for a long time that we need to stop tweaking here and there and put in a Leeds-Langley relief road which would take the traffic that needs to come from junction seven of the M20 to the A274. “That traffic presently has to go through the town via the one-way system or along Willington Street, which is already over-capacity, or through the villages of Leeds and Langley.

“The widened A249 roundabout just sends the congestion somewhere else. So a Leeds-Langley relief road is the only option, in my view.”

KCC member for the area, Sir Paul Carter questions whether a bigger roundabout was ever the right solution. He said: “It seems to me that it will merely get a bigger flow of traffic held up trying to get to and from New Cut Road or Bearsted.

It’s still going to back up.

County councillor Sir Paul Carter questions whether the widening scheme will work

“Whether that roundabout will work is open to question and I can see nothing but problems and if it will just cause more congestion, I just can’t buy into it.” He said that on top of the medical campus, new schools and Eclipse shopping complex, Maidstone borough has already taken more houses than many other boroughs outside of major cities. He favours new towns or large developments such as Otterpool, near Hythe, or Kings Hill.

Sir Paul added: “I think that Maidstone is at its limit and the surrounding villages are also at the limit.

“Where you have sensible locations, near railway stations or motorways, these are the places that should be identified and built out and which do not deliver collateral damage.” In a statement, KCC said that by going back to the competitive market, a more cost-effective solution could be found with a new contractor. It added: “In the meantime, KCC has been working with utility companies and the landowners of the adjacent land to carry out off road works, further surveys and investigations, to make sure that when the scheme resumes in 2025, project construction risks are kept to a minimum.”

Papers sent to the cross-party Maidstone Joint Transportation Board last month explained the project received no “significant” section 106 contributions, meaning KCC would have to pay for any further costs.

The document explains: “KCC must have financial approvals and certainty in place to award a construction contract, otherwise it will not come forward, which has been evident with many other schemes across the country which have been stopped or abandoned due to increasing costs.”

Borough councillor Denis Spooner points to the suspended widening works on the A249

The suspension of the works at the roundabout was highlighted earlier this summer by borough councillor Denis Spooner. At the time, he said: “It is hardly a secret that KCC has got no money. It’s broke – that’s no secret.

“It is immensely frustrating because these improvements are desperately needed to ease the worsening congestion on the A249.”

References

1. ^ was put on hold by Kent County Council (KCC) earlier this year (www.kentonline.co.uk)