TRAFFIC congestion in Maidstone caused by accidents on the M20 motorway is harming business in the town centre, according to traders.

Members of the Town Centre Management Initiative have called for more to be done to resolve traffic flow problems in the county town when the motorway is blocked.

At the recent TCMI's retail and commerce group meeting members questioned Maidstone Borough Council's cabinet member for planning and transport policy, Cllr Malcolm Robertson (Lib Dem) on what action is being taken to address the problem.

Chairman Winston Quested said: "We as a business group say it is affecting business. We want to know how we can progress this through the borough council."

Cllr Robertson is engaged in a dispute with the council's infrastructure and economic development overview and scrutiny committee, whose members have rejected a suggestion by the cabinet member that they carry out an investigation into the problem.

He believes the committee has the power to interview a range of people including the AA, Kent County Council and radio and television stations about the way the roads cope and how information about accidents is communicated to the public.

But the committee says action needs to be taken at a high level to address new road building to carry the traffic in the town.

Committee member Cllr Derek Nicholson (Con) said: "Until Maidstone Borough Council, Kent County Council, Government and the Highways Department recognise this, no amount of talking and hand wringing at back bench scrutiny level will improve the situation."

The TCMI agreed to write to the leader of the overview and scrutiny committee, Cllr Julie Skinner, urging her committee to carry out the investigation.