Maidstone’s town centre gyratory improvement scheme will not be finished on time, it has been revealed.

KCC’s project manager Russell Boorman told the town’s businessmen at a breakfast meeting today that the final completion date was now scheduled for January 17, rather than mid-November.

However, Mr Boorman reassured the town that all works on the highway itself would be completed on time, and all traffic control measures removed by the original mid-November deadline. He said: “There will be no highway works over Christmas.”

The outstanding work will be the completion of a retaining wall around the corner of the junction of High Street and Bishops Way and the laying of new paving stones.

Mr Boorman said the delay was caused by difficulties in sourcing the granite paving slabs, which were coming from China.

He said: “The order for the granite was placed immediately that the contract was allocated, but we’ve been advised of a delay on delivery.”

Mr Boorman said the project had overcome several difficulties, including the need to move 24 underground optic-fibre cables, but was so far going to plan. He was pleased that although the CCTV camera surveying the bridges had to be moved, it was out of action for only one day.

He said the camera had been useful in enabling the project managers to monitor traffic flows and adjust traffic lights sequences accordingly.

But he said that the traffic chaos experienced in the town on Saturday, September 24, when some motorists spent two hours trying to exit the Fremlin Walk car-park, had revealed that KCC’s Highways Management Centre at Aylesford was not being manned at weekends. He said: “We had been unaware of that.”

He said steps had now been taken to ensure the gyratory works were monitored at weekends.

The small audience of only 20 seemed mostly reassured by the briefing, only Norman Kemp, the MD of Nu Venture bus company, had an unresolved issue.

He asked why it had been necessary to close the bus lane turning into the High Street, when no work was being carried out on it.

He was told the project team didn’t want “confused” motorists finding themselves in the bus lane by mistake and that in any case the bus-only lane would disappear completely when the scheme was completed.

Mr Kemp was unconvinced. He said “This has been poorly thought through. You have a section of carriageway that could be used that is coned off.

He said: “In my business seconds matter.”