Work to build a £41m link road near Canterbury has been put back again because of delays to its funding.
Kent County Council’s Sturry Link Road project aims to address significant congestion by enabling traffic using the A28 and A291 to avoid the level crossing at Sturry, unlocking development sites to the north of the railway to provide 4,500 homes.
A paper to the Canterbury Joint Transportation Board states that the scheme has been awarded £5.9m Local Growth Fund (LGF) cash towards the £41.6m cost of the project, and developer contributions to the value of £35.7m.
However, as of June 2024, the Council had only received £10.6m, including the LGF cash, with the remainder due in accordance various Section 106 agreements.
The paper states that the earliest date envisaged for construction to begin is April 2026, on which basis, completion would be around December 2027.
However, that will be significantly influenced by the progress of a compulsory purchase order and of housing delivered by the contributing development sites.
Earlier this year the highway authority appointed VolkerFitzpatrick to design and build the road, with a stated cost of £34m.
At that time, construction was scheduled to commence next year and be complete in winter 2026. It was originally planned to start last autumn.
According to the report, the cost is due to be reviewed early next year, before the council commits to the construction phase, ‘to confirm that the budget and all funding are fully committed’.
There is a break clause within the build contract in case the project cannot be funded.
The council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, Neil Baker, said: 'As much of the funding for this project comes from numerous development sites, timescales are hugely impacted by the planning process – which is outside the control of the county council.’
