Concerns have been raised about the impact a three-week closure of a busy road could have on the proposed diversion route.

Minster Parish Council wrote to Kent Highways to ask it to reconsider plans to shut part of Wards Hill Road and a site visit has been organised to take place tomorrow.

Work is due to start there on Monday, February 3, to install a pedestrian crossing between the junction of Lynmouth Drive and Love Lane, which is where the closure will be.

A notice from Highways says due to the nature of the job, it won’t be possible to reopen the road outside working hours and goes on to give motorists the alternative of using The Broadway, Minster Road, Waterloo Hill then Union Road.

The letter from parish clerk Trish Codrington, put together urgently after a request from the planning and transportation committee, describes the plan to close it as unworkable.

It says: “It will result in chaos and congestion along the alternative route by adding to the extreme congestion already in place there, particularly in Minster Road – an area already badly affected by school traffic.

“It will also prevent cars going in and out of the former hospital site development to Clarence Place, Haywood Avenue etc and impact on trade at the local corner shop during what is already proving to be an austere time.”

The parish council has suggested a more realistic solution rather than closing the area would be to set up two-way lights so traffic can still flow freely with no impact on the diversion route.

It also raises the issue of the length of time of the works.