A multi-million pound revamp of one of the county’s busiest roundabouts has been delayed.

Work on the Key Street junction in Sittingbourne was due to start this summer but has been pushed back due to a dormouse nest being discovered.

The route is 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.

Once completed motorists will drive down the adjacent Chestnut Street where there will be a new roundabout just before the Tudor Rose pub where a link road will connect to the A249.

The Chesnut Street arm of the Key Street roundabout will be expanded to include an additional lane.

There will also be off-road parallel parking spaces and a new toucan crossing.

Meanwhile, the current slip road will be landscaped.

The new roundabout is part of the Wises Lane development in Borden and will act as a link to almost 600 new builds, a rugby facility and a new primary school which will all be built by Quinn Estates.

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

Also included in the revamp are the new toucan crossings in Sheppey Way, near the Texaco petrol station in Key Street and in Keycol Hill.

There will be new parking spaces on Bobbing Hill and off-road parallel parking on Chestnut Street.

Kent County Council (KCC), which is overseeing the work, says reducing the number of arms of the roundabout will increase its capacity, improve safety and ease congestion.

A council spokeswoman added works were supposed to start this summer but are now set to begin in Autumn with it set to be completed by 2025.

She told KentOnline: “Alongside planning to minimise conflict with the M2 Junction 5 works, there are some environmental issues which have delayed the scheme.”

These environmental issues came from a dormouse nest being found during the advance site clearance around the roundabout and along the verges of Chestnut Street.

With a body length of just 6–9cm and a tail of similar length, the creatures are so small that chances of spotting them are very rare.

They have soft golden-brown fur, big black eyes and a long, feathery tail and weigh no more than 40g.

Habitat loss as a result of urbanisation has contributed to a severe decline in the population of dormice, which are a protected species.

It is an offence to disturb dormice or damage any place used for shelter or protection.

The spokeswoman explained: “The works around the nest were immediately stopped and an application for a dormouse licence was sent to Natural England, which is needed before the main works can start.

“We are expecting to receive the licence in September.”

A dormouse mitigation licence is needed ahead of work starting if dormice are found on a site, which outlines measures being taken to reduce any negative effects on the creatures.

Habitats should be protected and retained, but where this is not possible, other measures can include creating new habitats or, as a last resort, clearing vegetation to displace the animals.

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

The Key Street roundabout works will cost £5.8 million - £900,000 of this has come from developer contributions and the rest is paid for by a grant from the government’s Housing and Infrastructure Fund.

KCC says the road network will have better pedestrian and cycling links and future-proof the road network for 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.

This is because Swale council local plan, adopted in 2017, outlined that it will need to provide more than 13,000 homes across the borough, 7,899 of which will be built in the “vicinity of the schemes”, KCC said.

KCC is working with Jackson Civil Engineering to deliver the scheme.