A digger has moved in on land set for a town's fourth McDonald's as work on the controversial restaurant finally begins.

The new 24-hour drive-thru is being built off A28 Chart Road in Ashford, next to ‘tank roundabout’, and will be accessed from Bridge Road.

The plans were approved in 2022 – despite concerns over increased traffic on one of the town’s busiest roundabouts.

It is not yet clear when the restaurant will open, but it is set to have 136 seats and create 65 jobs.

Contractors were seen cutting back vegetation on the site last week and now an excavator and materials have been delivered.

A new junction providing access in Bridge Road has been constructed and wooden posts to eventually support hoardings have also been put up.

Once open, it will join the town’s three other restaurants in Eureka Park, the high street and Orbital Park – the latter said to be the company’s busiest drive-thru in Europe.

The new drive-thru – which is just 1.2 miles from the Eureka branch – will also have an outdoor play area on the patio.

Including two disabled spots, there will be 53 parking spaces as well as 14 cycle bays.

Plans for the fast-food unit were originally submitted in September 2020 but were withdrawn four months later while further highways discussions were held with Kent County Council (KCC).

They were then resubmitted with two amendments.

These included making the roundabout entrance from Templer Way wider and moving a pedestrian crossing on Chart Road further down to improve traffic flow.

The stretch of the A28 Chart Road between the ‘tank’ and Matalan roundabouts is set to become a dual carriageway, but the future of the long-awaited project is set to be decided later this year as the developer behind it appealed to amend its funding.

Hodson Developments Ltd, the lead company behind the 5,750-home Chilmington Green development, is required to pay for the vital upgrades when 400 homes are occupied.

But last year Hodson submitted an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate that “seeks to vary or delete” a significant number of its current requirements in its section 106 agreement.

When the project designed to relieve the heavily congested route was first announced, it was set to cost £26.2 million but “inflationary pressures” mean this has now risen to £30 million.

McDonald’s has been approached for further comment.