A new drop-off point for buses and taxis at a school has had a “transformational” effect on traffic in a neighbouring road.

Work to build a £6m extension at Sittingbourne Community College (SCC), which will see its numbers increase from 1,275 pupils to 1,575 by 2020, is continuing but the new terminal for children arriving by bus is already operating.

County councillors and school staff insisted the drop-off point be made a condition of the extension’s planning approval in order to alleviate congestion and parking problems for residents of Swanstree Avenue caused by extra traffic the start and end of the school day.

Seamus Murphy, executive head, said: “The drop-off point has been completed and it has been transformational.

“The bus depot is much safer for pupils and the local community.

“Between about 2.30pm and 3.30pm the road was snarled up with buses making it very difficult for people to go about their daily business but now the bus depot has completely freed up the road.”

SCC has also been encouraging pupils to walk to school.

The expansion, which was rubber-stamped by Kent County Council’s planning committee in October last year, is necessary to meet increased demand for school places.

A smaller project at the heart of the school of creating temporary classrooms is estimated to be finished in 18 months whereas larger scale work including a new suite of classrooms has been given a provisional start date of September next year.

Cllr Roger Truelove, Labour leader on Swale council, said: “I don’t know what the public reaction has been. It might be too early to tell.

“It’s something I campaigned for and argued for when I was on Kent County Council and in my view it should be a great improvement but we’ll have to wait and see.”