A vital road improvement scheme designed to ease congestion in one of the county’s biggest towns has been stopped due to a lack of cash.

Long-awaited works to widen the A249 and expand roundabout capacity near the M20 Junction 7 had already started.

But highways authority Kent County Council (KCC) has admitted there is no longer enough financial certainty to continue the £11.4 million project, near Bearsted and Grove Green in Maidstone.

KCC has been forced to scale back all forms of spending as it attempts to stay afloat amid soaring bills and squeezed revenues.

More than £80m of savings will have to be made next year if it is to stave off going bust.

The site office has been shut down although the project does not appear to have been abandoned.

In a letter currently circulating in the public domain, Colin Shorter, project manager for the works at KCC, said “recent progress is tied into the current financial position facing the county council”.

Mr Shorter said as the scheme is not receiving “significant” developer contributions, KCC risked shouldering the burden of any future hikes in costs.

He wrote: “As I’m sure you will appreciate, KCC must have financial approvals and certainty in place to award a construction contract, otherwise it will not come forward, which sadly has been evident with many other schemes across the country which have been stopped or abandoned due to increasing costs.

“The delivery programme for the main works on the highway is dictated by the award of the construction contract, which has been delayed, due to this funding uncertainty and a need to find a more cost-effective solution for the build.

“We are currently closing down the early works site which may see the current offices removed while we look to procure the main works in the next three months.”

The work affects the A249 between the KIMS Hospital roundabout through to the Chiltern Hundreds as well as the link to the M20 J7 near Next and Notcutts garden centre.

It would have seen signals introduced at the Bearsted Road roundabout and the New Cut Road roundabout enlarged by a lane in each direction. The road between them would also be widened.

Population expansion caused by house building and other factors has turned that section of road into a congestion hotspot with lengthy delays for motorists.

It was forecast to worsen due to the growth of the Kent Medical Campus and the completion of a flyover at the A249 at Stockbury, where it meets the M2 Junction 5.

It was one of nine junctions in line for a revamp as part of the Maidstone Integrated Transport Package, which was first proposed by Kent County Council in 2016.

Despite being given the green light nearly four years ago, most of them are yet to begin.

The A249 works had started this year and were forecast to be completed by the winter.

Local Maidstone Borough Councillor Cllr Denis Spooner said: “It is hardly a secret that KCC has got no money. It's broke - that's no secret.

“It is immensely frustrating because these improvements are desperately needed to ease the worsening congestion on the A249.

“We’ve been waiting years and years for this to happen and just when they’ve got it underway, they’ve been pulled. I guess we’ll just have to grin and bear it.”

KCC Labour group transport spokesman Cllr Barry Lewis said: “If we get elected to run KCC next May, we’ll have a complete review of how major works like these are going to be funded.”

The improvements to the roundabouts along the A249 had been planned to take place alongside a separate scheme to add traffic lights to the M20 Junction 7 roundabout at Detling.

Those hit a roadblock after £4.7 million of Highways England funding was pulled.

KCC papers previously concluded: “The Bearsted Road scheme and the M20 J7 scheme are both required to deliver the full benefits in terms of reduced journey times through the junction.”