As thousands more motorists use the county’s roads every year, a team is working behind the scenes to keep cars on the move.

Sitting in front of a bank of cameras at the urban traffic control centre in St Michael’s Close, Aylesford, staff can ease delays by adjusting traffic lights patterns and holding cars at junctions for longer.

Control room staff monitor 150 cameras across the county to find ways to ease congestion.

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Teams work with emergency services, Highways England and contractors to respond to incidents and arrange repairs across all non-motorway roads in Kent.

The centre collates data on traffic from automatic number plate recognition and CCTV cameras, detectors under the road surface and the emergency services.

Toby Butler, intelligent transport systems manager, said when the network is running smoothly his team play a baby-sitting role, watching over it.

However, when incidents occur the controllers take responsibility for adjusting the 700 sets of automated traffic lights.

In November, controllers held traffic in Maidstone so the air ambulance could land on one of the bridges in the town’s busy one-way system to attend an incident.

It also co-ordinates responses to major crashes, Operation Stack and break-downs.

Controllers monitor average journey times and pinch-points throughout the morning and evening rush-hours – from 6.30am to 6.30pm.

The centre also identifies the number of available parking spaces in town centre car parks, as well as providing real-time bus data.

Before the centre opened in 2005, highways staff would only find out about traffic jams if members of the public reported them.

The team moved from Miller House in Lower Stone, Street, Maidstone, to the ultra-modern Aylesford base in 2011.

Mr Butler, whose team also plans complex new junctions, said: “We are aware that there are hotspots around the county and we know people find themselves sitting in the same queue everyday.

“We’re not here to make the queues any worse, but try to help improve journey times. We actually have very little control about what drivers do, but using our CCTV coverage we can influence signal timings, get messages out there on road-side signs and via Twitter and our website.”

Controllers also plan for roadworks and prioritise clearing traffic from motorways and major A roads, even if it means letting queues form back into town centres.

See a video report from inside the control centre at www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone