Rush-hour queues at one of Kent’s busiest roundabouts could be almost five times longer while a 1,800-home estate is being built nearby, the housing developer admits.
The warning about the notoriously congested Brenley Corner appears in technical reports submitted as part of plans for Winterbourne Fields – a proposed ‘garden village’ off the A2 near Faversham.
The scheme would see almost 220 acres of “poor-quality” farmland between Dunkirk and Boughton-under-Blean transformed into a development boasting shops, restaurants and a primary school, with the first homes built in the next three years.
But while developer Shaptor has lined up a mitigation scheme to try to reduce the overall impact of the estate on surrounding roads, it has been unable to ensure congestion will not increase during the construction of the estate.
Forecasts submitted by the firm show that once just 400 of the new homes are occupied, the number of vehicles queuing to come off the M2 at Faversham will grow from 30 to 148 during the morning peak — an almost fivefold increase.
However, Shaptor argues the impact “is not significant” as the queues will not stretch back as far as the section of the M2 where drivers have to take the left-hand lane to exit the dual-carriageway or the right-hand lane to continue towards the A299 Thanet Way.
It also stresses there will be a trigger point – forecast to be somewhere between the occupation of the 400th and 800th home – when it will implement its own bespoke redesign of Brenley Corner, aimed at improving the roundabout’s capacity without waiting for long-promised government investment.
This will include new traffic lights on three of the five approach roads, widened entry lanes on the A2 and M2 slip-roads, and the removal of an existing merge lane from the A2 London-bound off-slip, replaced by a signal-controlled approach to reduce weaving and lane-switching.
Shaptor’s consultants argue that with these changes in place, the roundabout will perform better than if nothing were done – even if it still does not meet the full “nil detriment” standard, where traffic conditions would remain no worse than they were without the development.
But even after the redesign, queues of more than 200 vehicles are expected on the M2 arm during peak times once 800 homes are built – a level described as “not insignificant”.
“Brenley Corner is a highly sensitive junction which is sensitive to even minor changes in traffic flows and distribution,” said the report.
“The proposed nil-detriment mitigation scheme does not entirely provide a nil-detriment impact when compared to the 2040 baseline modelling for the existing layout.
“However, the scheme does offer significant betterment to the junction compared to the ‘with Winterbourne Fields development’ scenarios without any mitigation.”
This interim scheme has been put forward because a much more extensive overhaul of Brenley Corner — including possible flyovers or free-flow links — remains unfunded and unscheduled.
That larger upgrade, part of National Highways’ RIS3 programme, has been under discussion for years but is not expected to be delivered in time to support the Winterbourne Fields development.
As a result, the developer’s proposals are effectively being treated as a stopgap to make the roundabout marginally more resilient until wider strategic investment comes through.
With no direct London-bound slip road onto the A2 from the new estate until construction starts, traffic from the development is expected to cut through Boughton-under-Blean to access the A2 towards Faversham initially.
An assessment submitted by the developer states that up to 80% of traffic trying to join the A2 in that direction may pass through the village at first, as drivers try to avoid U-turning at Upper Harbledown.
Shaptor says these impacts are temporary and that new A2 slip-roads near Dunkirk — to be delivered in a later phase — will eventually remove the need for through-traffic in the village.
But there are currently no guarantees that the slip-roads will be built before hundreds of homes are occupied, with the only timeline offered for completion being prior to the occupation of the 400th home.
Swale Borough Council is still assessing the planning application, which also includes proposals for new bus links, a travel hub with electric vehicle charging, and a 10% biodiversity net gain.
Marco Nardini, of Shaptor, said: “Our team have worked closely with Swale Borough Council, National Highways and the County Council’s highways teams in shaping this application, who have provided us with detailed input.
“Winterbourne Fields will bring a number of improvement measures to Brenley Corner and to local roads.
“These include upgrades to the Brenley Corner gyratory, new slip-roads onto the A2 at Dunkirk, improvements to traffic calming on Courtenay Road and a financial contribution towards local highways works planned for the area.
“These will ensure that Winterbourne Fields has no additional impact on traffic delay at Brenley Corner and will reduce rat-running through neighbouring villages. Our scheme will also bring significant investment into local bus services.
“In addition, we will be taking a ‘Monitor and Manage’ approach. This will mean the introduction and implementation of our proposed local traffic mitigation measures at the point that they are needed and not dictated by project milestones – for example, having to deliver a certain quantum of housing beforehand.
“This is a new approach and follows recent government and county council guidance.”
