Improvements to Brenley Corner may not be completed for another eight years, despite the junction being one of the UK's worst accident blackspots.

Mike Whiting, Kent County Council cabinet member for highways and transport, has confirmed that work on the roundabout at junction 7 of the M2, near Faversham, will not start until 2020 at the earliest and could finish as late as 2026.

No funding is currently in place for the much-needed improvements, which would be made as part of the government's Road Investment Strategy 2, due to be announced in 2019.

A Highways England report, published in April last year, put Brenley Corner in the top 50 locations for casualties nationally.

Traffic using the junction has increased by 43% in the past 15 years, and it has seen a string of serious accidents which often cause tailbacks stretching for miles down the M2.

Cllr Antony Hook, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for economic development, posed the question to Cllr Whiting at a council meeting.

Speaking afterwards, Cllr Hook said: "We need action now, and this lengthy delay will just mean more accidents and more congestion over the coming years.

"Everyone says they support changes at Brenley Corner, but the Conservatives in power won't deliver anything until at least 2021, maybe not until 2026. This is totally unacceptable."

KCC also revealed at the meeting that there is no fixed date for improvements to the significantly congested A2/A251 junction, a main route in and out of Faversham, and no funding for an Ospringe bypass.

Swale Borough Council recently granted outline approval for 250 houses to be built at Preston Fields which would create two access points to the A2 and A251, despite objections from residents over congestion.

Sections of the A2 around Oare and Ospringe have also been found to have dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas mostly caused by diesel vehicles.

The Liberal Democrats say this means nothing is being done about the traffic problems on the A2 which regularly leave Faversham town centre gridlocked.

Cllr Hook said: "To delay improving the A251/A2 junction, or building an Ospringe bypass, means more misery for the people of Faversham.

"Congestion is a problem for the whole town, not to mention the danger the heavily polluted A2 poses to health."