Villagers who fear their community will be cut in half by a £92 million highways scheme have been offered the bridge they’ve been campaigning for – but for pedestrians, not cars.

Stockbury Parish Council says National Highways’ new A249 flyover at the village roundabout, where the M2 meets the A249 for Sittingbourne, will mean travelling from one part of the village to the other will be “lethal”.

They, joining force with locals, mounted a protest about the scheme, calling for a road bridge near Church Hill to allow drivers to safely join the busy A-road.

But now National Highways has thrown out plans for that and is thinking of building a £3m footbridge instead.

Bemused Phil Woods, who chairs Stockbury Parish Council, said: “This will be a bridge from nowhere to nowhere. Very few local people will use it.

"It will certainly not address the safety issues at the junction between the A249 and Church Hill.

“We told the public inquiry a road bridge was needed but unfortunately the Department for Transport’s value-for-money assessment does not take into account the risk to life, relying instead on numbers of vehicle movements. National Highways turned Kent County Council’s suggestion down flat.

“They would have been better putting that £3m towards a £16m road bridge.”

He added: “We have lost the battle but we wanted to speak to roads minister Richard Holden so he was aware of the failings and could ensure mistakes like this weren’t made anywhere else.

"But he decided not to meet the parish council.”

Mr Woods warned: “When the Stockbury roundabout project is completed, traffic from Stockbury will be attempting to join fast-moving traffic from a standing start. There will be no acceleration lane and poor lines of sight.

“Serious accidents are inevitable. The first major accident will probably be called ‘unfortunate’ by National Highways and the second will be a coincidence. Only after the third will anyone take notice.”

In a letter to Cllr John Wright, who chairs the Swale Joint Transportation Board which met at Swale House, Sittingbourne, on Monday, Mr Holden wrote: “National Highways says the most practical solution would be the construction of a new non-motorist bridge at Church Hill providing a crossing over the A249.

"This would provide a safe route for pedestrians.”

He said National Highways was still gauging demand for a footway, adding: “Unless there is clear support from residents, it will not be able to progress.”

Daniel Rollinson, National Highways project manager for the M2 junction 5 scheme, said: "Stockbury Parish Council requested a road bridge to be installed as part of our upgrade but we assessed and modelled options and found that it would not deliver sufficient value for money.

"It was advised by the planning inspector, and accepted by the Secretary of State, that this would not form part of the M2 J5 improvements and would need to be a standalone scheme championed by Kent County Council. We helped to develop a business case.

"However, following advice from Transport for the South East, the Department for Transport deemed that the road bridge would not be progressed at this time. The scheme is though designed in a way that means if a road bridge was to be built in the future, it can be.

"We looked at the concept of a footbridge connecting the two sides of Stockbury over the A249 on the southern side of the Stockbury roundabout and discussed this with Kent County Council.

"In order for us to be successful in gaining funding we had to gather local support for the need of a footbridge. Unfortunately, through our regular meetings with the parish council, we were not able to gather this support and therefore the footbridge will not be progressed any further.”