Residents in Whitfield are fuming after construction traffic to a housing development has been allowed to go through the village.

Work on Richmond Park, which is phase one of the Whitfield Urban Expansion, has now started construction of 94 houses.

One of the planning conditions of the application was construction traffic would only use Archers Court Road as a temporary measure.

Jeff Goodsell, chairman of Whitfield Parish Council, said it was told the roundabout on the A256 would be built before the houses, to ensure that construction traffic could come directly from the bypass and not need to enter the village.

Now the developer, Halsbury Homes, is constructing the junction at the bypass and the houses at the same time.

This means 100 lorries a day entering the village over the next 22 weeks.

Mr Goodsell said: “The residents in the village are fuming about this whole situation. We feel let down as for years there have been promises.”

He claims the village was promised affordable housing and the infrastructure to back-up the 5,700 homes coming to the village in the next 20 years – but now he fears this will not happen.

He said: “Whitfield will be two thirds the size of Deal and three or four times the size of Sandwich.

“It will increase the population from 4,000 to 20,000.

“We relied on Dover District Council for it to be a controlled expansion and residents won’t suffer, and now no one seems to care and there is nothing we can do.”

He is now worried that extra traffic on Archers Court Road will cause an accident and hopes developers’ will adhere to the rules, which includes no lorries during school pick-up or drop-off times.

A spokesman for developer Halsbury Homes, said: “We can reassure residents that none of the Richmond Park, Whitfield, planning conditions have been removed and Halsbury Homes continues to work closely with the council to discharge all responsibilities.

“It has always been our intention to minimise the time when Archers Court Road is needed and indeed, following feedback from the community, this period has now been significantly reduced.

“We can also confirm that all of the financial contributions that form part of the legal agreement will be met.

“The overall Whitfield expansion plan includes significant levels of affordable housing, although this does not include any provision in phase one at Richmond Park.”

Dover District Council confirmed it recently approved a construction management plan was submitted by the developers.

The spokesman said: “This management plan does enable construction traffic to use Archers Court Road for a temporary period of 22 weeks so that work can commence on constructing a new roundabout on the A256 and, in parallel, a start made on the housing development.

“Construction traffic will switch to the new A256 access after 22 weeks. The use of Archers Court Road is subject to temporary parking and speed restrictions and a range of environmental controls.

“We have taken all views fully into consideration, including residents and the Highway Authority.

“We have worked to make sure a reasonable balance has been struck to enable this important development to get fully underway, whilst ensuring safety issues have been carefully assessed.”