Work on a £30 million relief road to ease one of Canterbury’s traffic blackspots has been pushed back by almost two years.

Construction of the Sturry relief road was due to have started this autumn, but Kent County Council has now confirmed the project will not get underway until the summer of 2025.

It means the scheme will not be completed, at the earliest, until the summer of 2026.

The delays have fuelled fears locally the project may never see the light of day – a move described as “disastrous” by some.

The plans were originally approved in September 2021 for what is seen as a key part of easing traffic woes in the city.

The road is designed to link the A291 Sturry Hill – which runs up to Herne Bay – to midway down the A28 Sturry Road.

It would mean traffic avoiding the railway level-crossing at Sturry which causes lengthy delays to build up at peak periods.

The new road would run alongside new housing developments planned for the site of the former Greenfields Shooting Grounds, with a viaduct to take cars above both the River Stour and railway line – emerging on the Sturry Road, where a new roundabout will be built, just east of the currently mothballed park and ride site.

The Greenfields centre closed in late 2021 after permission was granted for more than 600 homes to be built on the site on Sturry Hill, with more than 400 more on adjoining land at Broad Oak.

The Broad Oak site has seen homes being built – but, as yet, no full permission has been secured for the former Greenfields site.

Louise Harvey-Quirke was, up until last week, representing Sturry on Canterbury City Council. She says attempts to get Kent County Council to clarify its plans proved fruitless during her time in office.

She explained this week: “I could never pin them down to an exact date as to when work would begin.

“They did say they were starting archaeological work a little while ago but, other than that, I've heard nothing else.

“I hope it happens eventually because the amount of houses planned went through on the provision of the link road. If the road plans were to fall apart that would be disastrous for the people of Sturry.

“There were so many people against the developments anyway; the link road was the silver lining.”

Mrs Quirke added that while work has still yet to begin on the Greenfields site, her attempts to confirm who the developers were also proved in vain.

Funding for the link road project is dependent on the housing development. Costing a total of £29.6m, KCC obtained £5.9m from the Local Growth Fund through the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (Selep). The remaining, far larger chunk, would come from developers as part of Section 278 contributions.

This commits developers to funding changes to the road network as part of the planning permission conditions.

The initial plans had been met with opposition by many locals, with both Sturry Parish Council and Fordwich Town Council raising objections, saying the new road infrastructure would “inevitably encourage” greater use of cars; increasing noise and air pollution.

Ann Davies is chair of Sturry Parish Council. She voiced personal fears as to whether the project would ever see the light of day.

She said: “We've not had an official update for a very long time.

“It's looking more difficult, as time goes on, to fund and build the road. Whether KCC has plans to provide the funding in the face of inflation and the delay in developments, only KCC would know.

“Speaking personally, and not on behalf of the parish council, it seems quite marginal financially to make it all work. It is a difficult site in lots of ways because of the proximity of the woodland, the lead pollution, the typography, the drainage, absolutely everything makes that site difficult.

“Opinion is very divided on the whole situation locally because it depends on the delivery of the eastern bypass otherwise it will simply disgorge more traffic onto the A28 as it enters Canterbury. Without it, there's not a lot of point.

“Given the change in the colour of the council, the effects of Covid, inflation, the slight dropping in the housing market, I'd say it was very difficult to call at the moment.

“Certainty, one way or the other, is what is really needed.”

Selep says the project was delayed due to the pandemic but added it “now has all planning permissions in place and is currently in the process of acquiring the necessary land in order to deliver the project”.

According to KCC’s latest published timetable, “procurement of a design and build contract” was set to be concluded by this spring, with a detailed designed published at some point from “spring 2023 to winter 2024”.

Construction is pencilled in as starting spring 2025 and completing in the summer of 2026.

A spokesman for KCC says work to appoint a contractor for the design and build of the Sturry link road is “currently under way” and it “aims to complete this by spring 2023”. However, they added “this date is subject to possible further change in the future”.

They added that dates published on its website for the project “are designed to be indicative and remain subject to change”.