A lack of progress in improving a town’s road network has seen Kent County Council (KCC) roundly condemned.

Of a list of projects intended to improve 10 key junctions around Maidstone, after four years only one - at Armstrong Road - has been completed and only one - the A20 Coldharbour roundabout - was moving ahead, a meeting of the Joint Transportation Board heard.

Other projects in the Maidstone Integrated Transport Package, drawn up to improve the roads to cope with housing growth, had either stalled or had been dropped altogether.

The plan had been conceived in 2016 and approved in 2020 but presented with a scant three-page report on progress, the board’s chairman, Cllr Paul Cooper (Con) said: “This is really frustrating.

“Money has been on the table a long time (for these projects). The money remains unspent and no one’s entirely convinced that things are moving forwards.”

Cllr Claudine Russell (Con) said: “Many of these schemes are not in progress. Some have actually dropped off the report altogether.

“Previously, there was a whole section on the Loose Road corridor - that’s just dropped off.

“The Loose Road junction with Cripple Street - dropped off. Sheals Crescent project - dropped off.

“A274 junction with Willington Street - that’s dropped off.

“Plans for the Fountain Lane junction now seem a bit hard - so I worry that that might drop off too.”

Sir Paul Carter (Con), who was the leader of KCC for 14 years until he stepped down in 2019, said: “This is a very lazy report.

“We have been beating this drum for junction schemes for Maidstone for years and years and years.

“This is stretching the elastic to a giddy limit.”

He demanded the board be given “the whole package” saying: “We need timelines of when these schemes are to be delivered and we need to know where the £8.9 million that was allocated to these schemes from SELEP (the South East Local Enterprise Partnership) is sitting.

“Are they earning interest from that money?

“Will that interest be put to the schemes to cover some of those inflationary factors, where many of these schemes will now cost probably double what they would have done five or six years ago?”

Sir Paul added: “Maidstone has taken more growth then any other authority outside of the metropolitan cities.

“We’ve taken a great amount of housing. We’ve got to make sure we deliver the infrastructure.”

But he was pessimistic for the future, saying: “With a Labour government intent on more and more houses, the chance of our infrastructure ever catching up is pretty slim.”

Cllr Valerie Springett (Con) was particularly annoyed at delays to improvement work to the A249 at Bearsted. She said: “This should have been finished last spring. Now we are told it won’t happen till next spring - two years late!”

Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) wanted to know what had happened to plans to improve the Loose Road/Cripple Street junction. He said: “That had a million pounds attached to it. It’s just gone!”

Cllr Cooper was frustrated at the lack of progress on the Wheatsheaf junction.

He said: “I was assured back in 2019 that I could cut the ribbon to open the junction before 2021. It hasn’t happened, nor is it likely to any time soon.”

Cllr Joe Higson (Lib Dem) described the KCC report as “wishy-washy”.

He said: “There are no timeframes. Things just seem to be kicked into the long grass every time.”

Noting that KCC had said plans to improve the Fountain Lane junction had been paused because of safety issues arising from the design, Cllr Higson said: “The Fountain Lane junction is dangerous as it is. It isn’t safe at the moment.”

Cllr Chris Passmore (Lib Dem) said: “Despite several letters to the KCC cabinet member for highways to try to get the Fountain Lane junction repainted, it hasn’t been.

“If we can’t even get the current junction repainted, the chance of getting the junction rebuilt is very low.

“We are misleading ourselves if we think we are going to see this junction improved.”

Cllr Cooper told KCC highways officer Ben Cuddihee that: “It’s extremely important that at our next meeting in October, we get a more detailed synopsis of where we are with every project.”

Councillors had made almost identical criticisms of KCC and the lack of progress at their board meeting last August.

The three-page report that councillors referred to said the A249 Bearsted Road project was paused while “the financial position of the project was re-assessed”.

The Fountain Lane project had been paused over “safety concerns”.

A design for the Wheatsheaf junction was expected by October and there were plans to bring forward the A20/Willington Street project, though no date was given.

The only good news was with the A20 Coldharbour Roundabout - now being referred to as a “longabout” because of its size.

Work, which started in February, was on schedule, it said.

The scheme included underground drainage attenuation crates which should help manage water run-off and mitigate the risk of future flooding.

Mr Cuddihee said: “No further road closures are scheduled until October, although there will be continuing lane closures while UK Power Networks lay new cables.

“The project should be completed by December.”

KCC declined to respond to the criticism.