Angry villagers are challenging a report praising the success of the West Malling Bypass.

The bypass, according to the council report, has been “enormously successful” at achieving what it set out to do – improving access to junction 4 of the M20 and reducing traffic volumes on a number of local roads.

Many people living in surrounding villages disagree, claiming their quality of life is much worse.

A report from Kent Highways says traffic has actually increased on some roads.

The report, applauding the bypass, was put together by council officers and presented to members of the Tonbridge and Malling Joint Transportation Board.

But Ryarsh and Birling residents said the Kent Highways’ own figures, garnered by traffic consultants Peter Brett Consultants, indicated the traffic had actually increased on some local roads.

Traffic on Ryarsh Road was up 18 per cent, Bull Road up 15 n From front page

per cent, Lunsford Lane up 12 per cent and Snodland Road up 10 per cent.

Gina Cantor, who lives in Ryarsh and is a Speedwatch volunteer to monitor traffic through the village, said: “Birling and Ryarsh are effectively bypass ‘rat runs’.

“The bypass may have been a triumph for traffic, but it has demonstrably worsened the quality of life in these villages, whose inhabitants are subjected to streams of speeding, rat-running traffic on a daily basis.

“Large numbers of vehicles seek to drive around the bypass rather than on it.” A Kent Highways report agreed: “Some increases in traffic have been observed in Lunsford Lane (Larkfield) and Bull Road (Birling) ... although this has been less than some local perceptions.”

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