Reworked plans for the controversial Sturry bypass have been drawn up as councillors and traffic engineers prepare for the “final chance” to make the £30 million project a reality.

There are hopes the “vital” scheme, which is envisaged to ease congestion at the villages snarled-up level crossing, will be rubber-stamped at the second time of asking.

It is seen as a pivotal development to cope with extra traffic from more than 1,000 homes set to be built in Sturry and Broad Oak.

The Kent County Council scheme looked dead in the water in March when its planning committee made the shock decision to refuse permission for a three-lane viaduct stretching over the River Stour.

It left the plans in tatters, and a government pot of £5.9 million cash to help fund the project was seemingly lost.

But now the proposals are back on the table after the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (Selep) said the bid would still be eligible for the money as long as it is approved by September.

In a race to get the proposal over the line by the autumn, planners have now tweaked the designs and launched a revised bid for the route.

The scheme remains the same in principle, with the road bypassing the level crossing by linking Sturry Hill and the A28 via a new 0.9-mile stretch.

But while city-bound traffic, aside from buses and cyclists, would have been banned from using the level crossing in the original proposal, that vision has now been dropped.

The u-turn means motorists will be able to use either the relief road or the traditional route.

Designers warn this “will likely come with the risk of some peak-time congestion” and say it will “make the relative attractiveness of the prepared route decrease”.

Yet with KCC members criticising the proposed traffic ban last time out, it is hoped the changes will be looked upon favourably.

Canterbury City Council leader Ben Fitter-Harding, who said the previous rejection was “really worrying”, has welcomed the resubmission of the plans.

“We’re very pleased to see that they have come back,” he said.

“The last chance to get it approved was March, so we’ve now gone beyond that - this is the very, very final chance.

“I’m hopeful KCC will look favourably and be sympathetic to the fact this road has been a long-held ambition.

“Even without the extra homes being built around Sturry, the ambition for a relief road has always been there.

“We’ve got the lifeline in the Selep funding, and that is incredibly vital. We thought the chance for that money had gone but thankfully it hasn’t.

“It’s very positive news as without the funding it wouldn’t be good. You’d have to take money away from the infrastructure, such as school support, and spend it on the construction.”

'This is the very, very final chance...'

There is already permission for 1,086 homes to be built at Sturry and Broad Oak, with the developers constructing half of the bypass and contributing £8.8 million to the overall cost.

The other half of the project, which is to be determined in the coming weeks by KCC’s planning committee for a second time, is for a 250-metre viaduct and two extra roundabouts.

Drivers will access the viaduct off a three-arm roundabout on the A28 near to the Sturry Road park and ride entrance. They will go across the elevated road, before either turning left onto Broad Oak Road, or turning right onto a new roundabout and heading through a yet-to-be-built 650-home development and onto Sturry Hill.

Back in March, one of the reasons councillors gave for refusing the scheme was the low height of the viaduct blocking watercraft navigating the Stour from passing underneath.

Yet in resubmitting the plans, designers have re-iterated how existing bridges at Fordwich and Vauxhall Road already prevent boats from using that section of river.

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