The average speed of vehicles travelling along a stretch of the A249 in a year is higher than the limit, a report has revealed.

That was the startling fact revealed to a meeting organised by Sheppey Route Ltd, the DBFO (design, build, finance and operate) company, which built and maintains the Sheppey crossing.

Maintenance has been contracted by Sheppey Route Ltd to maintain the road between Stockbury Roundabout and Sheerness Docks.

An annual report into the stretch of road (the period from April 1, 2010 to March 30, 2011) was handed out at the meeting.

It shows that almost 5m vehicles travelled the route in each direction in that period – more than 4,500,000 cars, vans, buses and motorcycles and a further 430,000 HGVs.

The average speed of vehicles using the road over the year was 73.5mph.

There were 30 lane closures including 16 to repair accident damage and seven to enable routine maintenance.

Over the year-long period, there were 40 accidents on the stretch of the A249, none of which were listed as fatal or serious.

Eleven were 'slight’ and 37 resulted in damage to assets.

There were 11 reported incidents – these included five notifications of dead animals, two of oil spills and two of debris.

The Sheppey Crossing was closed five times by Kent Police because of snow and broken down vehicles.

Over the previous winter maintenance period, there were 92 salting runs and 414 tonnes of rock salt were spread.

At the meeting, representatives from organisations including the Highways Agency were also told about the five-year management plan for the stretch of road, which runs to March 2016.

The Mayor and Mayoress of Swale, Cllr Ben Stokes and Cllr Sylvia Bennett were also shown round Carillion, where they offering apprenticeship courses in brick-laying, woodwork, painting and decorating and carpentry.

Cllr Stokes said: “We are very, very impressed with the facilities and everything they are doing here.”