New aerial footage shows road network upgrades taking place, as work on a new roundabout continues.

Construction in Chestnut Street, Borden, near Sittingbourne, is now ramping up, as the road is set to be closed for more than two weeks.

It will be shut for 19 days so the new roundabout near the Tudor Rose pub can be connected to the A249 as well as a new housing estate.

Coinford Construction is carrying out the works which will start on Monday, November 18 and are set to finish on Friday, December 6.

The project is part of the Wises Lane development which the roundabout will connect to, to allow people living in the new 600 homes to join the A249 Maidstone bound.

In theory, this will mean they will not have to travel on to the A2 at Key Street to get onto the carriageway.

The images show the development progressing from the air, with the new road cutting through the new houses towards Chestnut Street.

The land which will become Sittingbourne Rugby Club’s first permanent home can also be seen.

Groundbreaking for the new £2.5 million sports facility started on Friday, October 11.

Meanwhile, another 50 approved homes at Manor Farm, Borden, will also have access to Chestnut Street via a link road which will be built by Balmoral Land.

While these house-building schemes are separate from the £5.8 million revamp of the Key Street roundabout, they will all work in conjunction to create a new road network.

The route is already used by thousands of drivers daily heading in and out of the town towards Sheppey, Maidstone and Medway.

The changes to the roundabout include closing the existing A249 Maidstone-bound entry slip lane which is used by more than 7,300 vehicles every day.

Work on the Kent County Council (KCC) project was supposed to start in the summer but was pushed back to this autumn due to the discovery of dormice.

The scheme is expected to be finished by 2025.

The authority is currently undertaking clearance works around the roundabout while contract negotiations are still ongoing.

A KCC spokeswoman said an update “will be provided soon”.

It is all part of a £38.6 million infrastructure upgrade project which also includes the nearby Grovehurst Junction Improvement scheme. The work on that project has also been delayed.

Yesterday (November 7) one of the lanes on the A249 between Key Street and the M2 exit, J5 of the Stockbury Roundabout was closed.

Drivers travelling from the A2 Key Street and heading Maidstone-bound from Sheppey were delayed due to the closure which is set to be in place for 13 days.

KCC says the road network will have better pedestrian and cycling links and future-proof the road network for a population rise once the project has been completed.

Read more: Remembering the lost village of Key Street

The Key Street roundabout is expected to have 30% more traffic using it by 2037.

Swale council’s Local Plan, adopted in 2017, outlined the borough would need to provide more than 13,000 homes, 7,899 of which will be built in the “vicinity of the schemes”, KCC said.