A local authority’s cabinet has refused to fund improvements to the second most dangerous crossroads in Kent despite an impassioned plea from a councillor whose brother died in an accident there.

The Linton crossroads at the junction of the A229 and the B2163 near Maidstone has seen 29 crashes resulting in injuries between 2015 and 2022. There were a further five accidents where a pedestrian was injured.

At a meeting of the cabinet of Maidstone council, one ward councillor revealed his own brother had died in an accident there many years ago.

KCC, the highways authority, said that of 92 similar junctions of A and B roads controlled by traffic signals in the county, Linton was the second most dangerous.

KCC put in a bid to Maidstone for a share of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), the money that Maidstone council collects from developers to mitigate the impact of their developments on the neighbourhood – but the borough council has turned KCC’s bid down.

Visiting member Cllr Steve Munford (Ind), who represents the neighbouring Boughton Monchelsea ward, walked out of the meeting in disgust.

Earlier, Cllr Munford had put in an impassioned appeal for the funding to be granted, after revealing his brother had been killed at the crossroads.

He said: “This is close to my heart.

“I want to give you a resident’s view of Linton Corner, as it used to be called.

“It’s dangerous. It’s always been dangerous. We have put up all those houses and made it even more dangerous.

“One morning a young fellow got on his motorcycle and he left Boughton Monchelsea, and even in those days, there were queues at Linton Corner.

“He clipped one of the cars, tipped off his bike, crossed the road and was run over by an HGV.

“The HGV driver never drove again because of the carnage. Nor did my brother, who died at the scene.”

Cllr Munford told the cabinet: “You might say, ‘Oh sorry to hear about your brother’. No, I can live with that. Actions speak louder than words.

“So tonight there is no reason, logical, policy or otherwise that stops you (the cabinet) from granting that CIL money to Linton Crossroads.

“This junction was reported as being at over-capacity as long ago as 2016.”

The crossroads is next to the Cornwallis Academy and Cllr Mumford said pedestrian safety should be of paramount concern.

“There have been five strikes on pedestrians up there, where children are crossing the road,” he added.

“I’ve been heavily involved in the development of the junction improvement design, which is now ready to go out for a second consultation.

“It could be started in the fourth quarter of this year, although it may take two years to deliver.

“I met KCC last week and they confirmed they are ready to go.

“The junction improvement is in our own adopted Maidstone Local Plan of 2017.

“It was the underpinning mitigation measure that allowed Boughton Monchelsea and Coxheath to be declared ‘larger villages’ (with consequent extra development).

“A total of over 400 new homes have already been built locally.

“Without this mitigation, the development at Boughton Monchelsea and Coxheath would have been found unsound.

“Our own policy describes this mitigation as ‘critical’ with a delivery date of about now.

“I don't think the cabinet can morally hold money back from this scheme.

“In the borough council’s own assessment of the projects that were put forward for CIL support, Linton Crossroads scored the highest of any project.

“The council paid two independent consultants to advise us on the schemes in front of you and both supported this project.

“We must follow our own Local Plan. You need to spend this money tonight.”

Cllr David Burton (Con) thanked Cllr Munford for the insight his emotion had given him but the council leader then went on to argue against supporting the bid.

He said: “This is not the worst junction in the borough for congestion by some considerable margin.

“I want to say to the highways authority: ‘Finish what you started’.

"Linton Crossroads is part of a chain of improvements that go all the way down the A229, yet the Wheatsheaf junction sits there less than half-started.

“I cannot understand why this project (Linton) is coming to the top of the pile when there is already money for that next piece down the line (The Wheatsheaf) and blatantly there is no progress.

“I’d be really reluctant to put more money into the highways authority’s hands to have yet another project on the boil until we actually see some conclusions and some spending of the money they have already got.”

Cllr Burton continued: “Currently I think the safety issues on this junction are predominantly pedestrian – in terms of the severe ones.

“When I observe that junction, you do have school children dashing across that road, disregarding the crossing that is already there, as is their nature.”

Cllr Claudine Russell (Con) said: “Rarely have I heard a speech so impassioned as Cllr Munford’s.

“There were 400 houses built in the area, as Cllr Munford said. However, there were over 1,000 houses planned along the Fountain Lane, Hermitage Lane corridor. And that’s just our side; that does not take into account the Tonbridge and Malling new homes allocation.

“They all demand infrastructure improvements that are essential for those houses to be delivered. There lies the greater need.”

Cllr Patrik Garten (Con) said: “I want to build roads. I want to build infrastructure – that’s why I got elected to this council.

“I do understand that in order to have a Local Plan, you must provide the necessary infrastructure.

“But I’ve got a grave distrust of the delivering authority, the highways authority.

“It’s my understanding that KCC is not particularly keen to provide a scheme for Fountain Lane, so it’s ‘Take this one (Linton Crossroads) or you won’t get anything’.”

William Cornell, the borough’s director of regeneration and place, explained that the highways authority had struggled to develop a scheme at Fountain Lane with a cost-benefit analysis that would justify the spend.

He said the Linton crossroads was the priority for KCC because it was quite advanced with the planning.

Cllr Paul Cooper (Con) said: “I have no doubt that Linton Crossroads is a junction that should be improved.”

But, he said, it should be seen as part of a sequence of improvements including the Wheatsheaf junction and the Swan crossroads and he was not convinced that only improving Linton Crossroads would do much to ease congestion.

He said: “A number of people would prefer improvements to Fountain Lane or to Barker Road.”

Cllr Cooper suggested they should withhold the money from Linton and reopen the bidding process, hoping to persuade KCC to bid for different schemes.

Cllr Lottie Parfitt-Reid (Con), a cabinet member but also ward councillor for Coxheath said: “I’ve spoken to my residents and this is something that is very much wanted by a lot of people in Coxheath – some don’t.

This is the scheme before us – we should take it

“But this upgrade will bring safety to that junction for pedestrians – and it is a dangerous junction.

“This is the scheme that is on the table before us. We should take it.”

Cllr Cooper proposed not to proceed with funding at this stage. He was supported by Cllrs Burton and Russell.

Cllr Parftt-Reid voted in favour of giving the money and Cllr Garten abstained.

The sixth member of the cabinet, Cllr John Perry, was absent from the meeting.

This was not about congestion, it was about road safety

Afterwards, Cllr Munford declared: “The cabinet has missed the point.

“This was not about congestion, it was about road safety. This is our most dangerous crossroads.”

Subsequently, Cllr Munford and Cllrs Dave Naghi (Lib Dem) and Clive English (Lib Dem) have “called in” the decision, which means the issue will now be debated again at a meeting of the full council.

Since the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy, Maidstone council has amassed £4.3m – collected largely from housing developers – and it expects to raise a further £7.5m by March 2025.

KCC Highways had asked for a contribution of £1.23m towards the £2m cost.

The crossroads improvement would see the widening of the north and south roads to three lanes and an additional lane in both directions along Heath Road – it would also add a pedestrian crossing the south side of the junction.

And which is the most dangerous crossroads in Kent?

A KCC spokesperson said: “The four-arm signal-controlled junction with the highest number of collisions on A and B roads in Kent is the junction of the A2034 Cheriton Road and Cherry Garden Avenue, Folkestone.

“We are continuing our investigations into this location, which also forms part of an Active Travel scheme currently being consulted. This consultation closed yesterday and we will now consider the most appropriate action to be taken at this location.”