A road will be shut off for more than a year as a village continues to expand its housing.

Heritage Road, in Aylesham, and the neighbouring open space, Freddie’s Field, will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians from Wednesday, November 1 until January 2025.

A partial closure of the playground next to the health centre on the route is also set for December and is expected to last up to a year.

In August, part of Heritage Road and a section of Station Field were closed from the Bell Grove junction to allow for construction of Aylesham Garden Village, a major housing project, to continue.

However, Dover District Council announced earlier this week that the whole road is now set to close, explaining it is for the safety of the public and workforce.

Diversions are available at Kings Road, Cornwallis Avenue, Ratling Road, Ackholt Road, Queens Road and vice versa.

The pedestrian/cycle path from Burgess Road (close to the Ratling Road junction) which leads to the skate park and train station across Station Field, will remain open.

Apart from some partial closures for service connections and construction of parking spaces, the link between Bell Grove and Burgess Road will be open as much as possible throughout the construction. That link crosses through Heritage Road.

Residents will be told of any partial closures when dates are known.

Aylesham was a mining village for workers at Snowdown Colliery until its closure in 1987. It is gradually being transformed, with a project called Aylesham Garden Village.

Work started in 2014, with a total 1,292 homes planned, and the continuing growth pushed up the village’s population from 4,905 in 2011 to 6,400 in 2021.

Another road in Aylesham has been shut for a long period.

Colliers Way closed in May and has an estimated reopening date of May 6, 2024.

Road chiefs say it is to allow “incursion works to be carried out” and to “allow working space for a development”.