Agenda item

Peter Osborne (Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport) Andrew Loosemore (Interim Director of Highways and Transport) were in attendance for this item.

1.Mr Osborne presented the Key Decision to Members for consideration, aspects to be considered were:

a)    The A28 Sturry Link Road would be a critical piece of infrastructure required to reduce congestion and to support new housing and economic growth in Canterbury and East Kent. Although substantial funding had already been secured through developer contributions and government grants, a funding gap had remained.

b)    To address the funding gap, the County Council was seeking support from the Brownfield Infrastructure and Land Bill Fund. Securing funding would assist in mitigating the financial risk to the Council and ensured that the project could proceed without delay. A decision on the funding application was expected later in the month (January 2026).

2. In response to comments and questions from Members, the discussion covered the following:

a)    Members queried that the link road project being dependent on a £9.8 million funding contribution from Homes England and if funding was not secured, or if a shortfall arises, would County Council propose to address the deficit through future Section 106 developer contributions. The Cabinet Member suggested that a shortfall was unlikely but had instructed officers to explore all options.

b)    Officers updated that the grant had successfully passed the next stage of their approvals process. Officials from the Ministry of housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) were present at that meeting. The proposal had now been passed to MHCLG for formal approval. Officers expected a decision within the next five to ten days, and the indications at the current stage remained positive.

c)    In Addition, officers responded to the £9.8 million funding gap that Members had referenced. Officers clarified that the figure did not represent the full value of the grant being requested. Homes England had applied their own contingency allowances, and their assessments did not include indexation when calculating the funding gap.

d)    KCC budgets had captured an anticipated level of indexation that would be expected to be met through developer contributions. As a result, Homes England had considered a grant value of up to £24 million, which would significantly offset the gap and reduce the overall financial risk to the County Council.

e)    Frustrations were shared on the lack of progress made with Network Rail in light of the works occurring around the Sturry train station location. Impacts to the local traffic were emphasised and included environmental concerns on the possibilities of the River Stour being impacted by building runoffs. Members asked for support in holding National Rail to account for the impacts that continued to disrupt the Sturry and Broad Oak areas.

f)      Officers highlighted the six planning conditions that related specifically to environmental matters, particularly those associated with the River Stour. Officers would be working through the process of preparing and submitting the necessary documentation to enable these conditions to be formally discharged. This included providing the evidence required to satisfy the expectations of the Environment Agency and other relevant stakeholders involved in the overall assessment.

RESOLVED to endorse the proposed decision, namely:

That the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport agree to:

a) Give approval to progress the construction of the Sturry Link Road A28 roundabout and associated works utilising banked S106 funding in order to implement the planning permission for the scheme.

b) Subject to a successful Homes England bid, delegate to the Corporate Director of Finance (S151 Officer), the authority to accept Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land (BIL) funding from Homes England to deliver the A28 Sturry Link Road viaduct.

c) Confirm that other decisions in Record of Decision 18/00027 and 23/00066 remain extant.

d) Approval for any other further decisions required to allow the scheme to proceed through construction to be taken by the Corporate Director of Growth, Environment & Transport under the Officer Scheme of Delegations following prior consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport.