Traffic chaos has been avoided at the 11th hour with the postponement of the closure of a major A-road which threatened to cause mayhem in surrounding villages.

A section of the A257 Littlebourne Road in Canterbury was due to be fully shut for 13 weeks from today for utility and road alignment works as part of a new adjacent housing development.

Now drivers, bus passengers and residents are breathing a huge sigh of relief after the scheme was put off just hours before the closure was due to be imposed.

The scheme, granted permission by Kent County Council (KCC) to developer Taylor Wimpey, had caused an uproar as drivers and bus services faced long diversions or being stuck in country lanes as they attempted to find shortcuts.

It was also said that residents would be stranded in their homes, and businesses would suffer the loss of trade.

Communities had been bracing themselves for the closure but late yesterday, Taylor Wimpey told KCC it wanted to delay the start by two weeks – a request that was refused.

The county council has deemed the postponement “non-compliance” and now the works are not expected to start until at least after the summer, with Taylor Wimpey having to apply for a new permit for a future date.

The about-turn has been met with huge relief among the thousands of drivers who use the route daily and faced enduring a 14-mile detour via the Adisham Road at Wingham and the A2 to get in and out of Canterbury - or risk serious traffic gridlock in the surrounding country lanes.

County councillor Mile Sole and city councillor Lee Castle have been campaigning on behalf of residents to try to mitigate the impact.

Cllr Sole says there will be great relief that the closure had been postponed, adding that he hopes it will offer the opportunity for further “more robust” negotiations between the developer and KCC.

“It will give the council the chance to more robustly challenge the need for a full road closure, the timeframe and for better arrangements for public transport,” the Lib Dem said.

“There still may well be some pain in the future, but we want to make it more palatable with full consideration of the impact and how it can be mitigated.”

Residents and businesses in villages including Littlebourne, Wingham, Bekesbourne and Wickhambreaux were dreading the likely impact of the closure.

People living in Bekesbourne Lane, which is already a pinch-point for cross-country traffic from Littlebourne to the A2 at Bridge, feared even worse congestion, with backed-up traffic at a standstill and unable to pass in the narrow street.

“There is no way the road can cope with the additional traffic,” said John Humphreys, 46, who lives in the lane and works in corporate affairs

“Vehicles already queue around to the Garrington Farm entrance at rush hour – we’d be lucky to even get out of our drive if the closure had gone ahead.

“We are so relieved to hear the works have been postponed because there have been a lot of sleepless nights over this in recent weeks.

“We need to find a new scheme that works for everyone and doesn’t sever one of the main arteries into Canterbury.”

The postponement has also been welcomed by another Bekesbourne Lane resident, Amanda Neimer, who also feared gridlock in the street.

“There’s great relief because it was going to cause so much disruption, but we have to swing into action again to make sure any revised new scheme does not have the impact the previous one threatened to cause,” she said.

Littlebourne Parish Council vice-chairman Mick Giles had accused Kent County Council of “washing its hands” of the looming problems.

“We had flagged up all the issues this is going to cause but they have just copped out, effectively saying any concerns should be directed to Taylor Wimpey,” he said.

“I don’t understand how this closure was granted permission in the form it was. Places like Bekesbourne Lane and Fordwich would just become clogged-up rat runs.

“It’s fair to say we had all been viewing this with a fair amount of trepidation but now there is a chance for the KCC to redeem itself and properly take on board the concerns of parish councils when this scheme does come back.”

The proposed A257 closure had also upset businesses on the route who said they would be seriously impacted and suffer loss of trade, while farmers complained their agricultural vehicles would be stuck in country lanes.

Michelle Vesey-Wells, of East Kent Growers, said: “We deliver to restaurants in Canterbury and on a Friday we have veg box customers either side of the closure. So it would have put our fuel costs up a lot, as well as our driver having to work a longer day.”

Littlebourne’s village shop was also worried about the closure.

Alisha Casey, who works in the community store, said: “It would have had a massive impact on business because a large majority of our customers are people passing through and stopping on their way home from work and school.

“With access to Canterbury cut off, we would lose all of that custom. It's hard enough for us as villagers trying to get around the closure and worrying about how it will impact vital services, without it affecting all of the wonderful local businesses we have here.”

The planned road closure had also left the landlord of the Anchor at Wingham, Kevin Abbott, fuming.

Writing on the Littlebourne Residents Group Facebook page, he said: “I cannot believe this has not been dealt with before because three months is a very long time for a business to have to cope with a loss of customers and turnover.

“Wingham and Ash businesses will be affected, and god knows how Littlebourne, Bramling and Ickham businesses will cope - it could even put them out of business.”

Today, a spokeswoman for KCC said: “As part of this permit, we set out requirements for the developers which must be met in order for the works to start.

“These have not been met and so the permit has been revoked. Further discussions are taking place to establish a revised start date and duration of works. Until this has been resolved we will not be able to provide a start date."

A Taylor Wimpey spokeswoman confirmed the works had been postponed and that discussions were continuing with KCC to establish a revised start date.