It is a tale all too familiar to Kent’s countryside residents - congested, potholed highways with frequent roadworks.

But for the already put-upon villagers in Goudhurst and other nearby communities, a major change to crossroads traffic lights a few miles away could turn out to be “absolutely horrendous”. Local democracy reporter Simon Finlay finds out why…

It has a reputation for being one of the most troublesome stretches of roads in the county.

The shallow S-shaped corner entering Goudhurst has long been synonymous with traffic jams and damage to property as huge juggernauts navigate tiny roads on their way across rural Kent.

The double bend creates the optical illusion of the HGV cab going one way and the load going another. At first, it is a terrifying sight but, like the locals, once you’ve seen it a few times, the terror soon passes.

Life gets trickier, however, when two of these beasts meet head-on.

It is not an exaggeration to say that it makes some villagers’ blood boil, not least David Bolton, a resident of Goudhurst of 39 years.

He knows better than most, as Back Lane, where he lives, has been used as a rat-run in the past.

Locals say the church wall has been hit so many times it is no longer insurable.

Others simply accept the huge volumes of traffic, resigned to see it as one of Goudhurst’s foibles.

Yet, ironically, the community arguably needs the passing trade to keep its village shop (where daily newspapers are spread out in the shop window), bakery, pub, barber shop and newsagent as going concerns.

The local postie, Lee, breezes by and, spotting the TV camera, chirps: “You waiting for a lorry? Don’t worry, mate, there’ll be one along in a minute.”

Sure enough, a juggernaut lugs into view, hauling a vast metal container and while it negotiates the infamous corner, its load all but blots out the 14th-century church set back from the road.

Goudhurst’s burden is not being assisted by road works and temporary lights by the pond.

But come the end of the month, the village and others like it, are in for a shock.

The closure of Hawkhurst’s crossroads, where two A-roads meet, to install a new sensor-based traffic light system with puffin crossing, designed to manage traffic flows, is set to flood communities like Goudhurst with even more traffic. The time set aside for the project is three months. The work, commissioned by developer Dandara, is part of the scheme’s planning consent.

The prospect of extra traffic is not something Mr Bolton, a retired chartered accountant, relishes the prospect of.

“Whilst we might not be a priority at the best of times, I dread to think what it is going to be like when Hawkhurst is closed,” he says.

Cllr Sean Holden, chairman of the environment and transport cabinet committee at Kent County Council (KCC) reckons that hundreds of lorries use Hawkhurst crossroads each day.

A large proportion of those lorries from the north will find their way to Goudhurst on the way to the A21 or via Biddenden to the A28.

Traffic from the south on the A21 will be diverted to Flimwell via the A268 to get to Hawkhurst.

The A268 High Street (Rye Road) is scheduled to stay open throughout but operating as a single lane with temporary lights.

During the whole period of the work, the High Street/Rye Road (A268) will remain open under single-lane working with temporary traffic lights.

Few would argue that all vehicles cause issues but it is the lorries which damage walls and buildings.

Pausing outside the village shop, Judith Cassidy says ruefully: “I don't know what the answer is but it just gets worse and worse and worse. With the [Hawkhurst] closures they’ll all end up on the back roads. It’s going to be terrible."

A resident closer than anyone to the notorious bend is Andrew Bennett who moved to the village recently from Cranbrook. His terraced home looks directly out onto it.

Mr Bennett puts up with the daytime noise and disruption right outside his front door but says the village is pleasantly quiet at night.

He offers KCC a cheap and effective way of deterring HGV drivers.

Mr Bennett argues signs at either end of the village proclaim the road to be unsuitable for lorries, therefore invalidating insurance cover should an accident happen.

Mr Bennett adds: “The question should be - are you insured travelling through here and have an accident when the signs say the road is unsuitable for HGVs?

“It is the HGVs that cause the problems here.”

Kat Hoyle, clerk of Goudhurst Parish Council, said despite being on the diversion route, she received no notification from the authorities about the potential impact of the Hawkhurst closures.

The road provokes “conflicting views”, she says, but HGVs are not the only problem - irresponsible car drivers cause issues too.

Like many parts of Kent, A-roads are filling up with traffic as more and more houses are built.

Hawkhurst is no exception. A village of 2,250 properties in 2019 has had nearly 10% more agreed in the past five years, says Clare Enscombe, chairperson of the parish council.

She says: “In terms of traffic through the junction, the data we have access to shows around 1,600 vehicle movements an hour through the junction in the AM and PM peaks.

“This data has come from previous planning applications. Our experience in Hawkhurst is that the traditional peak hours are not necessarily when the crossroads are most congested.”

Cllr Sean Holden is one elected representative who claims communication to villagers in Hawkhurst about the likely impact on their communities has been “poor”.

In a letter to a senior KCC official, he called for a pause in the work so that villagers in Goudhurst, Hawkhurst and other communities could be made aware of what lies ahead for them and to find ways to truncate the three-month time frame.

He wrote: “KCC officers have agreed with the developer, Dandara, a proposal to divert HGVs from the A229 onto the A262 through Goudhurst because of section 106 [developer-funded] works on the traffic lights at Hawkhurst which will close the major roads there for weeks, with no consultation with elected representatives of those two villages at county, borough or parish level.

“Both villages face enormous disruption because of it in many ways including their schools, businesses, health care, shops and so on. To that, you can add the disruption to the lives of residents by bad choices of diversions.

“I find it incredible that the highways authority is agreeing to route HGVs and other traffic through the pinch points at Goudhurst.

“As you know, for years I have been arguing for a solution to the repeated, almost daily, traffic jams caused there by lorries ignoring the signs on the A21 and A229 that it is ‘not suitable’ for them. Now officials, seemingly unaware of the longstanding problem, want to add the traffic from the A229 to the chaos.”

Dandara and KCC were approached for a comment. In an earlier statement, Dandara said it is happy to provide details of the crossroads work by emailing customercaresouth@dandara.com.

Five years ago, Cllr Holden and others managed to renegotiate planned works on the A268 from Rye to Hawkhurst by SGN for 11 weeks away from the summer tourist months.

What emerged from that exercise, he added, was the need for communication, consultation and extended working hours and days.

Cllr Holden now asks for a suspension of the KCC work permits and a meeting, which is pencilled in for March 12.

Conservative borough councillor Beverley Palmer doesn’t disagree with Cllr Holden but she feels “they should get on with it”.

She added: “Communication could have been better but the work does need to be done. That crossroads is so overloaded now that the lights are no longer fit for purpose.”

Resident Sue Firth, enjoying a coffee in the Kino cinema cafe with her dog Paddy, is concerned about access for pedestrians crossing the roads.

She added: “The communication has been pretty shoddy. If the local councillors don’t know what’s going on, then nobody knows.”

Janet Vatcher moved to Hawkhurst from Lingfield, Surrey, five years ago to be near her daughter when her husband died.

She said: “Well, it will give the village a little rest from the traffic but for other people it is going to be absolutely horrendous.”

A spokesperson from Kent County Council said: "These works are being delivered by a third-party developer, Dandara, who would lead on the wider consultation and engagement ahead of the permit application.

“KCC's involvement has been to issue the street works permits and give the required notification of the works."