Decision details

Background:

The A249/A2 Key Street junction is the main junction for traffic from Maidstone, the M20 and M2 serving the A2 communities and Sittingbourne to the east.  The A249/B2005 Grovehurst junction is the main junction to the north serving the Sittingbourne Northern Relief Road and expanding residential and business communities at Kemsley and Iwade. 

Swale Borough Council Adopted Local Plan 2017 seeks to deliver nearly 6500 new homes over the plan period, but this is undeliverable beyond 2022 as there are road network capacity constraints and air quality concerns.

The objective of both schemes is to increase capacity to reduce congestion and to assist other modes of travel to support the delivery of the Local Plan housing target and to contribute to the needs of the emerging Local Plan 2022-2038.

In November 2019, the Swale Transport Infrastructure bid in respect of the A249 junction related elements was accepted by Government for Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) support of £38.1m.  A condition of the funding is that the improvements must be delivered by 2024.

As Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport I agree to the following:

i.   Approval for the preparation of outline designs for the A249/A2 Key Street and A249/B2005 Grovehust Road Junction Improvements for public consultation, development control and land charge disclosures;

ii.  Approval to enter into a Grant Determination Agreement (GDA) with Homes England for the overall allocation awarded for the Swale Transport Infrastructure;

iii. Approval to enter into S6 agreements with Highways England and the Sheppey DBFO (Design, Build, Finance & Operate) contractor;

iv. Approval to acquire, where appropriate, S106 contributions from developers;

v.  Approval for the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment & Transport, under the Officer Scheme of Delegations, to take further or other decisions as may be appropriate to progress the A249/A2 Key Street and A249/B2005 Grovehust Road Junction Improvements.