Councillors are demanding action over the large number of road closures they say are “killing” their borough.

Earlier this month, KentOnline reported on the disruption caused by 13 routes being shut around Maidstone, with seven of those still in place.

At the most recent meeting of the town’s Joint Transportation Board, chairman Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) told colleagues there needed to be a strategic review of the way the Kent Highways authority dealt with closures and diversions, because the current system was not working.

Cllr Claire Kehily (Green) could not attend the meeting, but sent a message telling colleagues of the “chaos and misery experienced by most residents these past few weeks” and urging a “meaningful discussion” with Kent County Council (KCC) over issues around “the severity of the congestion caused and the genuine necessity of alleged ‘emergency’ roadworks.”

Kent Highways can control requests for routine road closures and refuse applications if there are too many in the area at one time.

But if the utility companies declare the situation to be an emergency, they have the statutory right to dig up the road at any time.

Cllr Clark acknowledged Kent Highways did not have full control over the closures, but said there were many points where the process was breaking down.

Schools, bus companies and other key stakeholders were not being given sufficient warning of the closures to make alternative plans, he said, and in the case of the recent closure of the Loose Road for gas works, most people had only learnt of it through a social media post - in that case, schools and bus firms had not been officially notified at all.

Cllr Gary Cooke (Con) said: “We’ve been going around in circles for many moons, particularly as a result of utilities closing roads. Therein lies the problem, KCC can’t coordinate what it doesn’t know.”

But he also said that if the diversion routes were better signposted, the roadworks would not cause such a problem.

Cllr Clive English (Lib Dem) said that KCC might have no control over emergency road closures, but “it’s not as though they don’t receive any warning”.

He said: “Putting proper diversions in place isn’t rocket science, or even high strategy, it’s the basic level of competence that we should expect.”

A KCC senior highways officer, Barbara Westmacott, was at the meeting. She said that the contractors working for the utility companies were given full guidance by KCC on diversions, but said: “The contractors don’t always do what we ask.

“Also, some people (members of the public) decide they want to open a road or move diversion signs of their own accord.”

She added: “We have one person who covers the borough for everything.

“So, unfortunately, sometimes we are not everywhere at once.

Ms Westmacott confirmed: “Loose Road is the priority that my team currently has because it is so high profile.”

The road is shut until November 24 between the Wheatsheaf junction and the junction with Cripple Street by the Swan pub.

Cty Cllr Robert Ford (Ind) wanted to know if the contractors could be fined if they didn’t lay out diversions as agreed with KCC.

Ms Westmacott said: “Yes, and we do, but the level of fines at the moment is not financially challenging enough to drive compliance at the speed that we would like it to.”

But she held out some hope, saying that the issue was being addressed by the government at a national level with higher fines on the way.

Cllr Val Springett (Con) said sometimes problems arose from a breakdown of communication between National Highways and Kent Highways.

She said on one occasion she had been out in Bearsted until 11pm directing traffic after National Highways closed the M20.

She said: “National Highways works in its own little silo, and KCC works in its own little silo.

“When National Highways shut the motorway and half the traffic went on to Kent’s road network, National Highways said: ‘That’s not our problem; they’re Kent’s roads.

“And Kent said: ‘That’s not our problem; it’s National Highways that has shut the motorway.’ Neither was talking to the other.”

The board asked KCC highways to produce a report for the next meeting in three months’ time.