Traffic in Canterbury town centre on the first day of the closure of the Westgate Towers

The Westgate Towers traffic scheme in Canterbury is to be ditched.

Transport bosses at county hall announced today that when the one-year trial finishes in March, the road system will revert to the original and traffic will once again pass through the historic gateway to the city.

The scheme has been almost universally derided as causing delays and increasing car fumes.

Kent County Council spokesman Kirsty Russell: "We are all acutely aware of the high level of public interest in this trial and Canterbury clearly has its own set of highway challenges, many of which are created by the town's unique historic layout.

"Finding a solution that is acceptable to all is a significant challenge.

"To this end, at end of the trial period, the scheme will be removed and the road layout will be returned to its original configuration.

"Once this has been completed, we will carry out a thorough review over the next six months, with all interested parties, to see what worked and what did not”.

The scheme prompted the Get Canterbury Moving group, which campaigned against the scheme and only 16% of respondents to a public consultation declared their support for it.