A major road is to close for the remainder of the summer due to engineering works.

Work is to be carried out at Church Road in Murston, Sittingbourne for nearly six weeks starting on Tuesday (July 25) – just days after temporary traffic lights are due to be removed following gas works.

Installation of new internet service to homes will see the road shut until September 3 while network provider CityFibre install fibre optic broadband to the area.

The changes will allow residents to use a gigabit-speed internet service – one of the quickest download speeds on offer - when using the web.

Church Road runs adjacent to the town’s Eurolink Industrial Estate and is used by some people to access estates such as Great Easthall.

A spokesman for CityFibre said: “The work will be carried out by our construction partner Lanes-i and is scheduled to take place from 8am on July 25 to 8am on September 3.

“Please avoid parking on the pavement during construction (as) the road will be closed to through traffic, however access to properties and businesses within the closure will be available.

“If you need help accessing your property, please speak with a team member on site and they will ensure you can access your property safely.

“Access for pedestrians and cyclists will always be maintained, while other vehicular traffic will be instructed to use the local authority-approved diversion route.

“During the period of the closure, traffic will be diverted with work usually taking no longer than a couple of days outside each home.”

They add some of the working hours may fall on evenings or weekends, however no loud noise will begin until after 8am.

CityFibre is a British network provider of broadband across the UK, and the third largest after Openreach and Virgin Media.

To install the broadband, engineers run a fibre optic network cable from a nearby telephone pole or underground to a small junction box on each house’s wall.

Speaking on Facebook, one person said: “Sittingbourne traffic is bad enough without more roads closed.”

However, another commented: “This is great news. I for one will be straight onto a 1GB plan.”

The road closure comes just as SGN promises to remove temporary traffic lights from the same stretch of road following emergency gas works.

For the last three weeks, those living in Murston have been dealing with congestion due to the “horrendous” road works.

Independent councillor for the ward, James Hall said: “It’s been horrendous.

“When the temporary lights stopped working at one point it was gridlock, cars couldn’t move anywhere.

“We were told that there was originally one gas leak and that it would be repaired in a couple of days.

“They discovered more leaks along the road and they’ve been here for three weeks as a result and now City Fibre wants to close the road and dig it up.

“It’s unbelievable, everyone is going to be mad about it.”

However, SGN, the company responsible for the gas works in the area, has confirmed their repairs should be done before CityFibre’s work begins.

Waseem Hanif, a spokesperson for the gas distribution company, said: “We’re carrying out emergency repairs to our gas network in Church Road Sittingbourne.

“Our engineers have put in place two-way temporary traffic lights to allow us to carry out our work safely. We’re manually controlling these lights between 7am and 7pm to help with traffic flow and minimise disruption as much as possible.

“We have completed multiple repairs and are now in the process of reinstating the road surface. All going well, we’ll remove the traffic lights and return the road to normal on Sunday, July 23.

“We’d like to thank Sittingbourne residents and motorists for your patience and understanding.”