A new traffic trial to try to relieve huge tailbacks on the Lower Road at Minster on the Isle of Sheppey starts tomorrow (Friday).

Motorists will no longer be able to turn RIGHT at the bottom of Barton Hill Drive into the Lower Road to get off the Island or to go to Neats Court shopping centre or Sheerness.

Instead, they must turn LEFT and go round the roundabout at the bottom of Thistle Hill Way near the Sheppey Rugby Club ground. KCC Highways insists this is a temporary solution until a £2 million roundabout can be built to replace traffic lights at Barton Hill Drive.

At the moment, Sheppey’s roads are gridlocked most of the day and particularly at rush hour because of many new houses at Minster, increased traffic from the Island’s three prisons at Eastchurch and holidaymakers teeming into Leysdown.

The tailbacks jam the two Cowsted Corner roundabouts and lead to delays at Halfway and Sheerness.

Objectors to the trial say the short-term measure will only lead to confusion, further delays and road rage.

The seven-week trial starts on Friday August 12 and will run until Friday September 30.

Resident Tony Papantoniou, writing in the Sheerness Times Guardian, said: “It is good to see Kent County Council taking an interest in the Lower Road congestion problems. But it is like rearranging furniture on the deck of the sinking Titanic. The Lower Road is a single lane being fed by a modern dual-carriageway and the old Sheppey Way.

“It is not large enough to carry today’s volumes of traffic. Re-phasing the lights and stopping people turning right will just move traffic up to the next roundabout. You cannot put a quart into a pint pot. The Lower Road needs to double in size.”

Businessman Mark Potter said: “I do wonder if forcing traffic to turn left and not right from Barton Hill Drive is the correct decision. Once the lights allow vehicles to move from Barton Hill what difference does it make to which way they go? On Friday with the boot fair, traffic heading off the island was queuing back to Brambledown.

“If the Barton Hill traffic has to turn left and go round Thistle Hill roundabout on an occasion like this, it will back up along the road from Barton Hill as it will be unable to join the roundabout and not allow traffic to flow over the lights coming onto the island as intended."

He added: “I do think the right filter light from Leysdown into Barton Hill should be eliminated. This, at present, stops all the main flow to allow perhaps only one or two cars over.

“I would also suggest restricting the timing to the lights changing from Barton Hill to stay red longer and not allow as many vehicles over. People will get used to this and may use Plover Road which, I am sure, is going to be used as people will end up at the Thistle Hill roundabout anyway. I can also see people turning right at Barton Hill and ignoring the 'no right turn'.”