Motorists have been left facing chaos this morning following the instalment of temporary traffic lights on an estate.

The £576,000 widening scheme on the Staplehurst Road roundabout opposite Sonora Fields in Sittingbourne, is in full swing now the M2 junction 5 slip road has reopened.

Planned for the next 20 weeks the roadworks, which include two standalone night-time closures, are being funded by housing developer Redrow.

The new layout will help manage traffic accessing its new estate, Amber Fields, which is being built off Quinton Road.

Work, which started without the temporary lights last week, includes the widening of all four of the existing approaches to the roundabout.

There will also be an upgrade of a signalised pedestrian crossing, provision of a new zebra crossing and installation of a bus shelter.

Cllr James Hunt (Con), who represents The Meads on Swale council, previously said he fears the temporary lights and eventual closure of the roundabout will be a nightmare for residents.

Today he said: "The B2006/Staplehurst Road traffic lights have gone live.

"These are now on permanently, until works within the road have completed.

"There will still be a controlled crossing in place at all times and at some point the main crossing will need to be switched off but another will be put in place.

"I have raised concerns of people not having a safe place to cross, particularly children, and the contractors are aware of this.

"I also talked about parking. There is parking being installed on the grass by the welfare unit to get contractors vehicles off the road."

Cllr Hunt says it is his understanding that the lights won't be in place constantly until May.

He added: "I would hope that if it does cause problems it will be rethought.

"I did note that the red light on Sonora Way lasts two minutes and the green light allows about six cars through.

"I am not sure if changing quite that quickly is a good thing or not."

One commuter this morning already reported being stuck in a big queue on Staplehurst Road already.

They said:"After being in that traffic I popped to Archer's Park, another Sittingbourne estate nearby, to drop something off to someone and couldn't get back across the roundabout from Velum Drive onto Sonora as it was coned off.

"I had to go round through Bobbing to get home."