Sturry Link Road: £61 Million Canterbury Relief Scheme Begins Construction After Homes England Deal

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The Scale of the Problem

Around 20,000 vehicles use the A28 through Sturry every day. The level crossing closes for up to 20 minutes in every hour during peak times — six trains on the Canterbury to Ramsgate line will do that — and the knock-on effect is exactly what you’d expect: queues snaking back through the village, buses running late, and businesses across east Canterbury quietly losing time and money to a problem everyone knew about and nobody seemed able to fix.

For years.

But construction on a solution finally began in April 2026.

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The Funding Deal That Made It Happen

The £61 million scheme is being built by VolkerFitzpatrick for Kent County Council, with the core civil engineering contract worth around £34 million. It only became viable at full scale after KCC signed a £48.5 million funding agreement with Homes England, confirmed in early 2026, under the agency’s Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land arrangements.

Around £23.7 million of that Homes England money is expected to be repaid through Section 106 developer contributions — cash tied to new housing that the road is designed to unlock. The rest comes from Local Growth Fund allocations via the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, banked Section 106 monies and KCC’s own pot. In plain terms, Homes England is carrying most of the upfront financial risk while developers gradually pay back a hefty slice once homes are built and occupied. Not a bad arrangement if you can get it.

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What’s Actually Being Built

The link road carves out a new route between the A28 and A291 at Sturry, sidestepping the level crossing and the perpetually snarled Island Road junction altogether. The centrepiece is a viaduct spanning the River Stour, its floodplain and the Canterbury to Ramsgate railway — a structure that needed careful design given the flood risk and ecological sensitivities along the Stour corridor. New roundabouts at either end. A dedicated southbound bus lane towards Canterbury, a shared footway and cycleway, new pedestrian crossings and road lighting throughout.

Completion is expected around winter 2026/27, according to the South East Local Enterprise Partnership’s project listings.

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Housing Growth and Infrastructure Together

This isn’t only about cutting queues. The road is tied directly to thousands of new homes planned for Sturry, Broad Oak and the wider east Canterbury area, with KCC decision papers describing it as the piece of infrastructure that makes that growth possible. Developer funding secured through Section 106 agreements helps cover the costs — and Homes England’s involvement means the full viaduct and relief road can go ahead without the entire bill landing on the council’s desk.

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Key Takeaways

• The Sturry Link Road is a £61 million scheme, with £48.5 million secured from Homes England, confirmed in early 2026
• Construction started in April 2026; completion is expected around winter 2026/27
• Around £23.7 million of the Homes England funding will be repaid via Section 106 developer contributions linked to new housing in east Canterbury

What This Means for Kent Residents

Right now, drivers, bus passengers and cyclists through Sturry are losing up to 20 minutes in every peak hour to a level crossing that has no real alternative route. Once the link road opens, through-traffic diverts away from that bottleneck entirely, and a dedicated bus lane should make journeys into Canterbury considerably more predictable. Residents in Sturry, Broad Oak, Hersden and Herne Bay stand to benefit most directly. And the broader easing of pressure along the A28 corridor will be felt well beyond those villages — across east Kent as a whole.