There are calls for an immediate review of roadworks “causing chaos” to town commuters, parents and businesses.

Part of Lower Rainham Road in Rainham is closed until next Sunday, July 9, while CityFibre lay new internet cables.

The closure has already caused traffic to grind to a halt on other roads on many occasions as drivers seek alternative routes, but is likely to be made worse when SGN, the gas infrastructure company, also start work in the coming days in the Wakeley Road area.

The district’s three Conservative ward councillors say they have received “hundreds of messages, emails and phone calls from residents, businesses, schools and community groups” all concerned at the length of time a basic journey through Rainham is now taking.

They said at peak times, traffic on the A2 was tailing back through the town as far as the Bowaters roundabout.

Cllrs Kwashie Anang, George Prefect and Wayne Spring have written to Medway Council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr Simon Curry (Lab), calling for an immediate review of the roadworks – ahead of the coming week’s chaos.

Cllr Anang said: “We appreciate the importance of the CityFibre project. However the diversions, risk mitigation and working hours all need to be reviewed as soon as possible.

“There is also needs to be a review of the other forthcoming roadworks.”

The councillors said that as a consequence of the congestion, children were arriving late for school, businesses were seeing missed appointments, deliveries to a petrol station had been missed and footfall at the Rainham Shopping Centre had reduced.

Part of the problem is alleged to be confusing or missing diversion signs which often cause motorists to end up in inappropriate minor roads.

Cllr Perfect said: “Motorists are doing anythng to try to get from A to B, rather than sit in the constant traffic standstill that they now face.”

The Lower Rainham Road works are part of a schedule of closures that will last until October that will later include Lower Bloors Lane and Pump Lane, as CityFibre carries out its £40m project to bring faster internet to Medway.

The closure has already been in place a week.

Station Road resident Kara Maplesden said: “It’s taken me over an hour to get from Rainham to my work in Brompton, which is usually a 15 minute journey along Lower Rainham Road.

“I also witnessed awful scenes in the morning, a parent with young children trying to cross the bottom of Station Road, drivers being impatient with each other weaving between parked cars.”

One resident, Wez Rossiter, labelled Rainham as “officially the world’s biggest car park.”

Adrian Smith, CityFibre’s partnership manager for Medway, said: “We are investing £40m to deliver a full fibre network that will future-proof Medway’s digital infrastructure for decades to come and would like to thank residents for their patience while we deliver this project.

“As part of these essential digital infrastructure works, we are required to enforce a closure on Lower Rainham Road, between the junction of Berengrave Lane and the junction of Motney Way, for two weeks from June 26 to ensure we adhere to health and safety protocols.

“Our works will then continue in the surrounding areas over the coming months as we install our full fibre network in stages as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our team will always be happy to move barriers for resident access when asked and if it’s safe to do so.”

Answering criticism that the road closures should never have been permitted during school term time, Medway Council’s traffic management team said: “We would normaly only allow road closures of main roads during school holidays but sadly, due to the duration requested by City Fibre we have had to allow some of the works during school term, otherwise CityFibre would take two years to install their network in Rainham.”