Villagers living in the shadow of a multi-million-pound flyover project are urging people not to forget about their community.

Business owners in Stockbury, between Sittingbourne and Maidstone, say they’ve seen a “significant” decline in their income since work began on National Highways’ M2 junction 5 improvements two years ago.

National Highways has offered support but many feel it doesn’t go far enough.

Chris Porter runs the village's community-owned pub, The Harrow.

In 2017, following months of campaigning, residents of Stockbury purchased the 200-year-old public house after it was put up for sale by brewer Shepherd Neame.

A group of 140 shareholders invested between £200 and £20,000 to secure the £380,000 needed to save the site.

However, Chris feels the village’s watering hole is now facing “really serious consequences” as a result of the nearby A249 roadworks.

The 74-year-old said: “It’s a bit of a nightmare. The problems over the past eight months have been building.

“Getting people up here is so difficult. We had a thriving village shop and pub and now they have lost their custom.

“We have had a significant loss of intake, it is in the thousands.”

Chris believes that when the major project is over it won’t really benefit the community.

He said: “When the flyover is done, the A249 is going to become such a fast road and people will go straight past us.

“With the flyover, people will go straight between Maidstone and Sheppey. It will take away needed business from us.

“We understand it is important work but we need support.

“National Highways have thought about Sheppey, Maidstone, and Sittingbourne but they have forgotten about us.

“We can understand that this is a major project that will benefit motorists but we need financial help from National Highways.”

Chris, who has lived in the village for 30 years, is pleading with people to continue to visit the village.

He added: “Please don’t forget about us.

“We’re always looking for improvements for refurbishments and we need to raise £5,000 for essential maintenance.

“If the pub made enough money and wasn’t being impacted by the flyover works then we wouldn’t need to fundraise.

“We’re not going to go out of business as we’re determined not to but we need people’s support in order to keep going.”

If you would like to support The Harrow click here.

A spokesman for National Highways explained that the agency had hosted multiple online calls with its human resources and marketing departments to provide aid to The Harrow.

They explained that emails were sent to onsite Highways staff inviting them to use the pub and the organisation has directly supported the village by paying to hire the cricket pitch and hosting drinks and food in The Harrow afterwards.

It isn’t only the pub that is struggling.

Just up the road is MB Farms which is home to livestock, a butchery, farm shop, and a post office.

The shop has been there for more than 25 years and the Brown family has farmed in Stockbury for generations.

Matthew Brown is part of that family. The 27-year-old said: “People are avoiding coming here like the plague.

“When they shut certain parts of the A249, to get here motorists have to go all the way to Bobbing to turn around.

“With the roadworks and lane closures that are happening, the Sheppey-bound carriageway at rush hour is awful.

“The back lanes are solid and people just won’t come here because of the traffic.”

Matthew, a farmer, explained that the village’s location near the A249 was beneficial but the flyover work was making it the opposite.

He said: “We have complained to National Highways and they basically said there are suitable diversions in place.

“Trade for us is declining significantly, we’re losing thousands. We want financial assistance for the businesses that support this community.”

The National Highways spokesman said MB Farm shop had requested help from the agency and GRAHAMs, the contractors working on the site, to advertise the business.

As a result, National Highways introduced MB Farms to GRAHAM’s marketing manager, and together the organisations offered the shop advertising and website help.

The agency’s traffic management department also introduced signage on the A249 reading “Stockbury businesses open as usual” in an effort to encourage road users to use Stockbury.

Despite this Dave Tomsett, who runs vehicle repair shop Tomsett Kent, says he has seen his client base drop by a third since work began in 2021.

The 66-year-old said: “We’ve been working all the way through the roadworks but we decided to start closing on Saturdays about 18 months ago because we just can’t promise that we’ll be able to get vehicles in and out with all the road closures that take place.

“We are open and we are welcoming customers but we’ve lost a lot of them.

“It’s been a heavy hit but customers have said they’re not coming because they don’t want to sit in traffic.”

Dave understands the importance of the work going on at the Stockbury roundabout but feels access in and out of the village is the biggest issue.

He said: “There is no bridge to us.

“To get here from the Maidstone-bound carriageway you need to do lots of lane changes and the turn-off to get back onto the Sheppey-bound carriageway is dicing with death as you go straight into 70mph traffic.

“Stockbury villagers have to fight to get on and off the A249. It is disheartening, you can understand why people don’t come to us. It is dangerous and scary trying to get here.”

The National Highways spokesman said the company’s fleet of many onsite vehicles that are in constant need of maintenance are sent to the garage in Stockbury to undertake these checks – Dave confirmed his businesses did have a contract with GRAHAMs.

The spokesman also explained that the organisation is currently working with the Stockbury Parish Council to produce a flyer that will be released to the surrounding parishes with information on the small businesses that are based in Stockbury.

National Highways has also taken a page in the local monthly Stockbury Observer to make sure that Stockbury residents who may not use social media or the internet can stay up to date with any news related to the scheme.

The spokesman said: “It is right that public organisations can be challenged on aspects of their work, but I would assure people that National Highways build roads in a socially responsible way, in a way where the legacy of our schemes remains a positive one; for the environment, the road user and those living and working nearby.

“We remain confident that we are delivering significant improvements to both safety and congestion on the M2 Jct 5 improvements at Stockbury. as well as a huge boost to the regional economy.”

For the latest updates on the Stockbury flyover project visit the M2 Junction 5 improvements website.