Hopes of completing the Northern Relief Road in Sittingbourne could be jeopardised under a blueprint plan suggesting how the extra strain on roads over the next 16 years should be dealt with.

Cllr Mike Whiting (Con) says it is “ludicrous” it has been omitted from the Swale Transportation Strategy which identifies £22m of measures to relieve pressure on infrastructure as a result of the estimated 9,200 new homes and 400,000sq m of employment land allocated up to 2031 in the borough’s Local Plan.

The news will come as a blow to residents living at Great Easthall as many of them bought their homes on the understanding it would be completed at a later date.

At the moment the only way to reach the town is via the Eurolink Estate coming out on to Crown Quay Lane, or Grovehurst Road. The route would link Swale Way in Sittingbourne with the A2 near Bapchild.

At the moment it stretches from the Grovehurst roundabout in Kemsley up to Great Easthall.

Ruth Goudie, strategic transportation planner at Kent County Council (KCC), revealed at the Swale Transportation Board meeting on Monday the estimated cost to build it was £25m which she described as not affordable in the context of the Local Plan.

If KCC continues with the strategy in its current format, Cllr Whiting says it could make it impossible to get funding for it in the future or get developers to contribute towards the cost under a section 106 agreement. This is where the local authority gives planning permission in return for a contribution towards local projects.

The cabinet member for localism said: “You could apply for funding to finish it via the South East Local Enterprise Partnership but my view is when you go for it they will say ‘but you don’t need it’ because it says so in the report.

“As a developer I might have a view about it too if I was asked for £1m towards a new road that’s apparently not needed. That’s the worry for me.

“Swale Way on to the A249 takes 10,000 vehicles a day in contrast to the M2 between Sittingbourne and Faversham which takes 20,000.

“It’s an astonishing number, so it’s absolutely necessary to get that route finished, not just for residents but also those doing business to the east of Swale. It’s causing traffic chaos in the town.

“Swale Way has taken traffic out of the town centre and I believe completing it would take further traffic out of the town centre and alleviate the problems.

“Anything suggesting we don’t need it is ludicrous.”