Road closure for pub junction revision will ‘isolate’ estate
Preparation work for Wheatsheaf traffic improvement plan begins
Residents of a Maidstone housing estate fear isolation as their junction is shut off ahead of the demolition of a historic pub. Cranborne Avenue, on the Shepway estate, leads on to the A229 Loose Road but the route is being blocked as part of an ‘experimental closure’.
It’s part of a wider plan for the junction surrounding the Wheatsheaf pub, which is set to be demolished and replaced with a roundabout.
Kent County Council (KCC) had initially intended to shut the road last Friday, but delayed closure at the junction until Monday.
It is due to remain shut until September 24 next year, unless it is revoked or made permanent. But residents of neighbouring streets are sceptical.
John Stephens, of Hampshire Road, said: “It’s not at all helpful for people living on this road. “A lot of people come up this road and onto the A229 so it means we’ve got to make a big detour either up to Sutton Road or down to Plains Avenue.
“It makes these journeys even busier and it virtually isolates this part of the estate.”
William Laidler has been a resident of Marion Crescent, just off of Cranborne Avenue, for 37 years.
He said: “My reaction is one of
exasperation and total disbelief because closing this junction is not going to solve the alleged problems at the Wheatsheaf junction.
“The problems it’s going to cause residents in this area, I don’t think the council has really understood.
“We are the residents, we know the problems but these decisions are being made by people who live in other parts of the county town without adequate knowledge of what it’s like to live in this area.”
Mr Laidler has previously filed a petition against the plans which received more than 800 signatures.
He said: “That petition was
successful at the time and of course like everything else they come round again.
“They paid half a million pounds for the Wheatsheaf pub all for the sole purpose of pulling it down to allegedly improve this junction.
“It’s not going to improve it at all. Instead of the pub we are going to have a little park over there with a couple of seats. Who wants to sit in a couple seats out there with all this pollution in the air?”
Mr Stephens added: “I thought it was a ridiculous plan because if they were going to knock the pub down they could’ve made that easier for large vehicles to turn left to go up Loose Road.”
A KCC spokesman said: “Officers will be implementing an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order preventing drivers accessing Cranborne Avenue from the junction with the A229 Loose Road.
“This traffic order is the first phase of the wider Wheatsheaf junction improvement which is
scheduled to be carried out during 2023.
“The traffic impacts will be reviewed during the closure to inform the final design of the Wheatsheaf improvement. A consultation will be launched to capture views on this scheme.” A consultation on the plans runs until September 19.