Work on a £41 million road project is on track to start in a year’s time - despite rehashed plans being submitted for the scheme.

The Sturry Link Road will connect the A291 Sturry Hill to midway down the A28 Sturry Road, bypassing the village’s level crossing in a bid to ease congestion in Canterbury.

Although construction was due to start in 2023, work has been twice delayed and is now earmarked to begin in April 2026.

Kent County Council (KCC) has confirmed it is on track to meet this new target, despite it having to consider revised designs after previously approved designs turned out to be not fully compliant with its own planning conditions.

The authority and its contractor VolkerFitzpatrick have amended a viaduct section of the proposal after it emerged the original plans did not offer the required eight-metre clearance to the bank of the River Stour.

Barriers on the 250-metre viaduct over the river have also been altered as there was not sufficient distance between the link road and the railway line.

A KCC spokesman said: “The works on the Sturry Link Road are still scheduled to start in April 2026.

“The planning permission, issued in September 2021, included a number of conditions that need to be met, and details must be resubmitted to the planning authority for approval.

“During the detailed design phase, these conditions are being checked, along with any new requirements from other parties involved.

“Separate applications will be made to meet each condition. This is a normal procedure.”

If all goes to plan, the project should be completed by December 2027.

Most accept the project is complex, not least because of the number of different councils, landowners and other interested parties involved.

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.

Compulsory purchase orders (CPO) and side roads orders (SRO) with modifications were confirmed by the Secretary of State in February, with the finalised list being published earlier this month.

Thirty-five parcels of land will be bought by KCC in order to facilitate the project.

There are also multiple funding sources, including development sites through Section 106 agreements with housebuilders, to finance the current estimated cost of £41.6m.

The Sturry Link Road will run alongside hundreds of new homes planned for the former Greenfields Shooting Grounds.

The viaduct will transport vehicles over the River Stour and the railway level crossing before emerging on the Sturry Road, where a new roundabout will be built.