Multiple road closures are blighting a Kent village – costing businesses thousands of pounds in lost trade and leaving residents angry and frustrated.

People living and working in Preston, near Canterbury, have endured almost a dozen traffic diversions in the last year for numerous reasons, including road and drainage repairs and connecting new-builds to services.

But they say they are uncoordinated and often done with very little or no notice – and even put in place when no work is actually underway.

“It’s happening so often, it’s farcical,” said parish council chairman Tommy Gale.

“For more than a year we have had to put up with what appears to be a very uncoordinated and thoughtless approach by Dover District Council’s planning department, Southern Water and KCC Highways which is having a huge impact on the village.”

Landlord of the Half Moon and Sevens Stars in The Street, Dean Lewis, says the closures nearly “ruined” the business.

“We took over in April and almost straight away they closed the road right outside,” he said.

“It was a massive blow and, quite frankly, nearly ruined us before we had even got started.

“I reckon we lost at least £3,000 in those first few weeks and now the closures have been almost non-stop.

“It’s the last thing the licenced trade needs right now when our overheads are already through the roof.

“It’s just been badly organised and I am sure full closures have not always been necessary.”

Dan Cannon-Skeet, who took over the Preston Nursery and Coppers Bistro in the Street with his partner in January agrees the closures have been a disaster for businesses.

“Anyone with a brain could see what impact it was going to have and whoever is supposed to be co-ordinating it should be sacked….”

“I reckon it’s cost us thousands in lost trade because customers can’t get to us or have been put off by the continual diversions,” he said.

“Some have even cancelled their bookings because of it and we have had to cut staff hours as a result.”

Also fuming is village butcher Mark Williams, who branded the closures “an absolute joke.”

“Anyone with a brain could see what impact it was going to have and whoever is supposed to be co-ordinating it should be sacked,” he said.

The shop relies on significant trade from outside the village but Mr Williams says he has seen a drop in business as customers have been deterred from getting to him.

“All they offered us is £250 in compensation which doesn’t scratch the surface of what we’ve lost,” he said.

Down the road at Plucks Gutter, landlord of the Dog & Duck, Jason Moon reckons during his 18 years in business, Southern Water has closed the road around 15 times.

“I feel I'm banging my head against the wall when it comes to trying to keep my business afloat, “ he said.

“The hospitality industry is on its knees due to escalating costs, especially energy, but we are having to put up with closures and consequently a slump in business on a regular basis.”

He claims Southern Water is fixing leaks on old pipes when the whole system needs renewing.

“Even the contractors have told me the pipes will keep bursting because they are not up to the job any more,” Mr Moon said.

“But it’s clearly cheaper for the company to keep digging up the road and fixing leaks rather than replacing the whole lot, leaving us to pick up the cost.

“Most recently, the Stourmouth Road was closed, meaning our customers, many of whom come from Thanet, couldn’t get to us.”

Mr Gale says residents accept that much of the work is necessary and, like the resurfacing, even welcome.

But he believes that many of the full road closures are not needed and lead to huge inconvenience and cost when traffic lights would suffice.

He points to the six full closures to connect new-build properties to services.

“We are not against housing development, indeed we are investigating that ourselves,” said Mr Gale.

“But Dover District Council should be giving the village and its economy more consideration when granting planning permission. Developers should not be profiting at the expense of our businesses.”

The closures have been in The Street and Preston Lane and most recently along Stourmouth Road and Gore Street, which has just re-opened. But now another block is planned in Grove Road on November 27.

Mr Gale also highlights the impact on the vital number 11 bus service through the village, which residents fought to save, but is now being disrupted, leaving schoolchildren sometimes stranded.

Among the many parents to complain is mother-of-two Susan Marsden who says that the bus not being able to get through is causing problems for young people trying to get to school.

“Stagecoach has tried to help by getting a bus up to Court Street but it has not always been reliable,” she said

“There have been occasions recently when children have been left in the dark and wet on the Ash bypass.

“My daughter had GCSE exams but had to come home because there was no bus due to road closures and I had to return from work.

“It’s been very challenging for parents who, after all, fork out £450 a year for a travel pass.

“The biggest frustration is there doesn’t appear to be any joined-up thinking by those authorising these closures.”

A Kent County Council spokesperson says the authority cannot prevent utility companies from accessing infrastructure on its road network. Where emergency works need to take place, the authority may not be notified until some hours after the work starts.

“Where we can, we work with utility companies, developers and any other organisations who need to access our roads, to plan roadworks to ensure the travelling public face as little inconvenience as possible,” they explained.

“This includes planning roadworks to take place during school holidays or other ‘off-peak’ periods.

“Our priority is to always ensure people using our roads are safe, while working with road workers to minimise disruption.

“KCC’s highway inspectors work daily to ensure roadworks are carried out in line with the conditions of the permits put in place and action is taken where these are not followed.”

A spokesman for Dover District Council added: “We do understand how frustrating roadworks can be for drivers.

“However, all roadworks are subject to separate highway consent processes which are administered by KCC as the highway authority.”

Southern Water said: “We know our maintenance work can sometimes be disruptive and we do have a street works policy to address compensation for businesses which have been disrupted. We’re sorry our customer has experienced regular work for so long.

“Mains replacement is an important part of our capital investment programme across our nearly 16000km of water and 49000km of sewer network. We’re spending £3 billion on upgrades to our assets between 2020 and 2025 and have bid to spend £7.8 billion between 2025 and 2030 in our largest ever investment programme.”