Councillors have criticised “slow progress” on a raft of road improvements in a town, while congestion gets “worse and worse”.

It’s been seven years since a plan to improve nine junctions in and around Maidstone was first drawn up, and three since it was approved – but only one has been completed.

Most parts of the Maidstone Integrated Transport Package, however, are yet to begin.

Of particular concern, was the uncertainty over the future of a key junction, despite Kent County Council (KCC) closing a landmark pub, The Wheatsheaf, and listing it for demolition.

The original deadline for the completion of all the schemes, aided by £8.9m in government funding, was the summer of 2024.

KCC’s highways project manager Barry Stiff gave members of the most recent Joint Transportation Board an update on progress.

The summary of the works were as follows:

A249 Bearsted Road - Solution “still being finalised”

A20 Coldharbour Roundabout/A20 London Road and Hall Road – Yet to receive tenders from potential contractors for Coldharbour, Hall Road plans dropped

A229 Loose Road junction with the A274 Sutton Road (Wheatsheaf junction) – Not being progressed at this time

A229 Loose Road junction with Armstrong Road/Park Way – Completed, but safety audit outstanding

A229 Loose Road junction with Sheals Crescent - Currently paused

A229 Loose Road junction with Cripple Street/Boughton Lane – Cancelled

A20 Ashford Road junction with Willington Street – Nothing will be decided until after the Bearsted Road improvement is completed

A26 Tonbridge Road junction with Fountain Lane – “The status of this scheme has not changed since the last update six months ago” (ie no date to start)

A274 Sutton Road junction with Willington Street – “Work progressing with consultant”

On only one junction did Mr Stiff claim success.

He said the Armstrong Road/Loose Road improvement had been completed.

But it later transpired that a safety audit at the junction was still to be carried out which might suggest revisions were necessary and councillors already felt more needed to be done.

Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) wanted railings on the corner of Armstrong Road and Loose Road, so that traffic turning left did not mount the kerb, and he also wanted the junction painted with a yellow box.

Cllr Maureen Cleator (Lab) suggested: “It has not been KCC’s finest hour.”

Most councillors were still very unhappy that KCC cabinet member Neil Baker had taken the decision to permanently close the Cranborne Avenue arm of the Wheatsheaf junction between meetings of the transportation board, without giving either councillors or the public the chance to comment.

However, the big question now was what happened next at the Wheatsheaf junction?

At one stage, KCC had drawn up plans to create a larger junction at the site, on the A229 between the Loose and Sutton Roads, which included knocking down the Wheatsheaf pub.

Cllr Cleator said: “We need to know if the demolition of the Wheatsheaf pub is going ahead.”

“If not, what is its future?

She said: “This was a facility that was well-used and well-loved by local residents.”

Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) agreed. He said: “We do need a decision about what is going to happen.

“Uncertainty is a killer. If that junction is not going to proceed, there are other areas where we could use that money – like Fountain Lane for example.”

A scheme to improve congestion there, on the A26 at Tonbridge Road, included the demolition of homes and an Indian restaurant to make way for a roundabout, but that has been shelved due to a lack of funds.

Cllr Clark said of the Maidstone Integrated Transport Package: “This package of junction improvements was a key part of our adopted Local Plan back in 2017. It was what persuaded the planning inspector to allow our housing growth.”

He accused KCC highways of showing a “complete lack of ambition.”

And he said: “When we drew up this list, there was a kitty of £10.55m from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership fund and developer contributions. What has happened to that money?”

Mr Stiff was unable to answer either about the future of the Wheatsheaf pub or on how much money was left.

Cllr Claudine Russell (Con) pressed him on the Wheatsheaf, asking: “Is there any timeline?”

He said: “Work is progressing with a consultant and I expect to provide a decision on what the scheme will look like to the next board meeting.“

That is scheduled for February 13, next year.

Cllr Paul Cooper (Con) said: “There is frustration within Maidstone that there has been such slow progress.”

“Meanwhile, inflation is reducing the spending power of that pot of money that we had. We need certainty as quickly as we can.”

Cllr Cooper also thought that the closure of Cranborne Avenue should not be the end of the matter, and urged that something be done to alleviate traffic that had been diverted from joining the Loose Road at Cranborne Avenue, which was now joining the Loose Road at Plains Avenue or Park Way.

He said: “We need to be sure that we are not merely displacing traffic from one part of Shepway to outside somebody else’s front door.”

Cllr Ian Chittenden (Lib Dem) lamented: “The frustration over traffic in Maidstone has just got worse and worse.

“We have barely succeeded in the last seven years since we compiled this list of jobs in completing one (Armstrong Road) project – and that was the smallest one.”

He said: “We can’t just keep going on like this.

“I really hope that next time we meet, we can show our people – our bosses, our residents – that we really have some progress.”

Cllr Stiff said: “These are all very constrained, challenging junctions. If there were an easy solution, we would have done it.”