Petition is success as £4m link road scheme thrown out
Proposals for a £4m upgrade of a busy link road into Maidstone have been thrown out by councillors.
Officers had wanted to grab the grass verges on both sides of the Sutton Road near the junction with Willington Street, to create extra lanes on the carriageway. The scheme would have involved felling 30 mature trees and grubbing up a hedge, which infuriated residents who mounted three petitions together signed by more than 900 people.
Chief planning officer Rob Jarman tried to persuade members of the Maidstone Joint Transportation Board the junction was necessary to mitigate the effect of extra traffic from the 2,651 houses that Maidstone had granted planning permission for further along the Sutton Road, but his plea was met with some cynicism.
Cllr Valerie Springett (Con) said there was little point in speeding progress through one junction only to have bigger delays at the next pinch-point – the Wheatsheaf junction. She said: “We are just moving the queue.”
Cllr Paul Carter (Con), the leader of Kent County Council, agreed, saying it would be better to divert the funds towards a comprehensive solution to the problems at the Wheatsheaf.
County councillor Paul Cooper (Con) took umbrage that “Maidstone council is essentially trying to bully us into this scheme.”
The council earlier heard pleas from members of the public, who also picketed the Town Hall as members went in.
Richard Weeks, of Bell Meadow, said residents were going to be swamped in an ocean of asphalt and were concerned about pollution and noise as the traffic would be moved so much nearer their homes.
Cllr Matt Burton (Con) said there was a “huge disconnect” between public opinion and the officers’ proposal. He urged colleagues: “Don’t fail the people.”
A motion proposed by county councillor Gary Cook (Con) rejecting the scheme was passed by a large majority, and officers were instructed to offer a smaller scale proposal retaining as much of the verge and as many of the trees as possible.
Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) attempted to add an amendment requiring officers to report back to the next board meeting, but his amendment was not accepted.
Cllr Clark was concerned that, unless the money was spent by 2021, the council could lose the £1.4m of funding housing developers were being required to make towards the scheme as part of their grant of planning permission.