Councillors are demanding to know what is happening to millions of pounds of developer and government funding for abandoned and delayed road projects in their town.

Eight years has passed since a raft of measurements was first proposed to help ease congestion around Maidstone.

The Maidstone Integrated Transport Package (MITP) involved a 10-point plan to improve key junctions, but to date just one has been completed, with many others delayed, axed or scaled back.

Now questions are being asked as to what will be done with money pledged to make them happen.

The highways authority, Kent County Council (KCC), says it is undertaking “a full review” of its programme of works, and reassessing to see if they are still deliverable against the original budget estimates - with the implication that they might be dropped.

Members of the Maidstone Joint Transportation Board were given an update on the progress of the schemes at their meeting in October.

The only one to be completed was the provision of an extra lane at the junction of Armstrong Road and the A229 Loose Road.

Works to increase capacity at the A249 at Bearsted - by signalising the Bearsted Road roundabout, enlarging the New Cut Road roundabout and widening the link road between the two - had started but was put on pause in June.

KCC has put the contract out to tender again, seeking a lower quote, and the new estimated time for completion is July 2026.

Councillors also learned that KCC has dropped plans for a reconfiguration of the Wheatsheaf junction, where the A274 meets the A229, opting instead for a “do minimum” approach.

Plans to improve the junction of Sheal’s Crescent with the A229 have also been shelved.

Improvements to the A20 Ashford Road junction with Willington Street are not planned to start until February and there is no end date forecast.

The council has been unable to find a junction reconfiguration that works for A26 Tonbridge Road junction with Fountain Lane, leading to Hermitage Lane.

And it is not proceeding with the original design for A274 Sutton Road junction with Willington Street.

Officers said: “Alternative design options will be considered to see if there is a design that is affordable.”

The county has dropped all plans for improving the Loose Road/Cripple Street junction.

Only the Coldharbour Roundabout improvements, which are not actually in Maidstone at all, are nearing completion.

KCC Cllr Ian Chittenden (Lib Dem) said: “It’s a very negative report - it’s just about things not happening.”

Cllr Brian Clark (Lib Dem) said: “We’ve gone through seven years, coming to these meetings, looking at elaborate plans and now this evening, we’re told that a bunch of those things will no longer be progressed.”

He said the government inspector who had considered the borough’s last Local Plan Review had been relying on the junction improvements as mitigation for the increased housing.

Cllr Clark said: “If at the time, KCC had said ‘this isn’t going to happen, that isn’t going to happen’, it could have changed the whole momentum of the hearings and the quantum of housing Maidstone has to absorb.”

He was also critical that councillors were being told that schemes were being dropped without being given any information about the money.

He said: “There was £3.8m set aside for the Wheatsheaf.

“We’re told the junction improvement would not be value for money, but if as a result of dropping the scheme, we end up having to give that money back, that’s not value for money either.

“Are we going to lose all that money? It’s absolutely bizarre.

“To cancel schemes that we have the money for is just unacceptable.

Cllr Chittenden agreed, saying: “It’s absolutely essential that we hear what’s going on with the money.”

But the two highways officers present at the meeting had no information for the councillors on that score.

All KCC’s major capital programme manager, Lee Burchill, and highways project manager, Barry Stiff, could say was that the finances were being reviewed and a report would be presented in January.

The last time that councillors were given a financial breakdown was in October 2018, when they were told there was a pot of £16.57m available, which came as £7.67m from developers’ Section 106 contributions, and £8.9m in government grants from the South Eastern Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP).

After the meeting, Cllr Clark said: “At the last two meetings, I have asked for a full financial picture of the monies collected for each of the junction schemes.

“Now we have been told that this won’t be available until January.

“Part of the funding has been by way of a £8.9m allocation from SELEP which had initially been time-bound to be spent by March 2021.

“An extension was given due to the pandemic, but councillors have received no further update on timing or on whether we would have to return any part of the money if projects are cancelled.

“Given that this is a multi-million-pound program, it is very concerning that no funding detail was provided to the board.

“Board members were unable to determine the financial risk of these revisions presented by KCC.”

Cllr Clark added: “I am frankly astonished by the time - the best part of a decade - and money wasted at the Wheatsheaf.”

KCC said: "The funding achieved from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) for the Maidstone Integrated Transport Package will not be returned and accountability for these funds has now transferred to KCC.

“We are reviewing what has been received from the developer contributions that were allocated at planning consent stage, and our findings will be presented at the next Joint Transport Board in 2025."