The cost of improvements to a busy stretch of highway, described as the second worst in Kent, has rocketed by a “ridiculous” £50m in just a few years.
The price tag to complete an ambitious programme of works on Blue Bell Hill (A229) was originally set at £202m less than five years ago now stands at £250m, a jump of nearly 25%.
The A229 Blue Bell Hill running normally. Picture: Google Maps
The scheme will aim to improve journey time, reduce congestion, provide greater capacity and to address crash hotspots.
Delays in the approval process by the Department for Transport (DfT), which will fund 85% of the project on the often heavily-congested section of the A229 near Maidstone, are blamed for the huge rise in costs.
Sir Paul Carter, whose Kent County Council (KCC) division takes in part of the route, said: “It’s absolutely ridiculous – it just typifies the public sector malaise in this country.
“You can’t get anything done. It doesn’t need to take this long but it’s all delay, delay, delay.
“It should be a case of getting agreement, getting the best price and agreeing how long it will take to finish and get on with it.”
County councillor Sir Paul Carter who represents part of Blue Bell Hill at KCC
Sir Paul, who runs his own building company, said if the current shake-up of local government means funding becomes easier and quicker to obtain “then bring it on”.
The scheme takes into account the possibility of the Lower Thames Crossing being adopted later this year, which will funnel more traffic onto the A229. Sir Paul supports the crossing.
The project also hopes to place emphasis on safety for pedestrians and cyclists as well as improving air quality.
The rising cost of the works are revealed in the agenda for next Tuesday’s Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee (January 14).
A funding request was submitted to the DfT in late 2020 and eventually approved by the government in October 2023.
The KCC papers state: “A feasibility study was undertaken to assess the key routes in Kent against the objectives of the Major Road Network. This study ranked this part of the A229 as the second worst section of A road in the county against criteria of traffic levels, delays, collisions and journey time reliability.
“It also determined that the M20 and M2 junctions have a significant role in the delays and collisions on Blue Bell Hill.”
Kent County Council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr Neil Baker
Included in a long list of changes, the A229 would get a new slip road westbound to the M2 at the Lord Lees roundabout; a new roundabout at the A2045/Taddington Link; improved merging from A229 to the M20 at J6 and enlargement of the Running Horse roundabout.
KCC papers state: “The project is currently within the existing KCC budget book 2024/25 at an estimated cost of £202.082m.
“As a result of delays in the approval process through the DfT and the recent inflation challenges, the current estimated total cost for the scheme is £250m.”
Cllr Neil Baker, cabinet member for Highways and Transport, said since the start of the war in Ukraine, the cost of materials has “spiralled significantly”.
KCC papers show the DfT would have expected to fund 85% of the Blue Bell Hill project with the rest coming from external sources such as developer contributions (s106).
The documents add: “Opportunities for these additional funding sources are being pursued by KCC but the level of match funding for a project of this size presents a considerable challenge and to date no s106 contributions have been secured.
“Under the previous government, the Network North announcement from October 2023 indicated that the project could benefit from up to 100% funding.”
No decision as to whether this will apply to the A229 work is expected before the spring.
Cllr Sean Holden, Kent County Council
Committee chairman, Cllr Sean Holden said: “The scheme was approved in October 2023…but DfT delays have pushed up the costs.
“KCC cannot take the risk of going ahead with the project with an additional £50m cost attached to it. The government’s delays are to blame and I don’t think much of that.”