RESIDENTS in the village of Wateringbury, near Maidstone, will continue to press for a lorry ban in their village despite Kent County Council's view that a ban cannot be put in place until an alternative route is built.

Cllr Philip Cockburn, chairman of Wateringbury Parish Council, has rejected KCC's position that the A26 Tonbridge Road could not be downgraded to a B road and have a ban placed on it until both Leybourne and Colts Hill bypass are built.

The upgrades to the A228 are currently only in their planning stages and could at the earliest be completed in about five years.

He said: "The big problem we have in Wateringbury is that many of the lorries are foreign lorries going to the Transfesa centre in Paddock Wood. They should go along the M20 and off onto the A228 through to Paddock Wood."

Cllr Grahame Weston (Con), chairman of KCC's highways advisory board, has told Cllr Cockburn that while Tonbridge Road was too narrow for the volume of traffic using it, he did not agree with the parish council that there were alternative routes for lorries.

Cllr Cockburn said: "We are fully aware that lorries will have to journey into Wateringbury for deliveries, but that will be a minor number. Kent County Council still shows the A26 in its maps as a major route through to Paddock Wood. We don't accept it and we want our lorry ban."