M2 junction 5 improvements

Improvements to the slip roads and junction approaches at the M2 junction 5.

Start date January - March 2020-21

End date 2024-25

Cost £50-£100 million

View towards M2

View from Oad Street

View from Church Lane towards M2

View from Honeycrock Hill

View towards M2
View from Oad Street
View from Church Lane towards M2
View from Honeycrock Hill

Latest updates

20 January 2021

Public Inquiry completed

The public inquiry into our proposals to make improvements to the M2 junction 5 has finished. A report is now being prepared by the Planning Inspector for the Secretary of State and we expect a decision on the project at the start of the summer.

The public inquiry was held as a virtual event in November 2020, and you can view the documents and information gathered during the review on the programme officer’s website.

We’ll be sharing more information about the final designs later this year.
22 September 2020

Virtual Public Inquiry Announced

On 4 September 2020, Highways England received notice from the Department for Transport (DfT) that the Public Inquiry for the M2 junction 5 improvements scheme will be held on Monday 9 November 2020 starting at 10am.

The Inquiry will be held as a virtual event, run by an Inspector in the normal way but with the parties invited to join via Microsoft Teams or by phone.

A Pre-Inquiry meeting will also be held as a virtual event on Tuesday 29 September 2020 at 10am. At this meeting the Inspector will arrange the timetable for the proceedings in connection with the Orders. You'll find more information about Highways Act 1980 Orders in the Document section of this page.

Anyone wishing to attend either the pre-inquiry or public inquiry must make their interest known to the Planning Inspectorate as soon as possible prior to the Inquiry. Please make it clear in your response whether you wish to join the meeting, make a statement or ask questions at the meeting.

Those wishing to join either meeting should contact ETC@planninginspectorate.gov.uk quoting the DPI reference number (DPI/U2235/19/21) and provide their contact details. Alternatively, telephone 0303 4445572.

Any queries regarding the programme of the Public Inquiry should be made directly to the Programme Officer, Yvonne Parker.

You will be able to view all documents related to the Public Inquiry on the programme officer's website
30 April 2020

Changes to M2 junction 5

We're making improvements to the M2 junction 5/A249 Stockbury Roundabout. These changes will support improvements to safety and the potential for economic development and growth in the region.

The Public Inquiry which was due to commence on 28 April 2020 has been postponed until further notice on the recommendation of the Planning Inspector, based on the Government’s latest advice regarding Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are actively working with the Department for Transport (DfT) to arrange a future Public Inquiry for the M2 junction 5 Improvements Scheme.
31 March 2020

Update on Public Inquiry

Once new dates have been arranged for the Public Inquiry, the project webpage will be updated and participants notified. In the meantime, if you have an urgent enquiry, please contact the Programme Officer Yvonne Parker directly via email at posltd@virginmedia.com.

At least two weeks prior to the start of the Inquiry formal notice of the proceedings will be placed in the local press and around the site of the scheme.

Following the inquiry, the Inspector will publish a report with their recommendations regarding the orders to the Secretary of State, who will subsequently announce their decision.
11 October 2019

Public inquiry and Statement of Case

On 30 August the Department for Transport issued to all objectors a ‘notice of intention to hold Public Local Inquiries’ into the Orders for the M2 junction 5/A249 Stockbury Roundabout improvements scheme. The date of this notice is known as the ‘Relevant Date’ and other key dates in the public inquiry process are measured from it.

As part of the process, we have written a Statement of Case which summarises the scheme, objections and representations and Highways England responses.

All documents related to the scheme referred to in the Statement of Case are available to view in the 'Highways Act 1980 Orders' and 'M2 junction 5 - Deposit Documents' sections below.

Reference copies of all of these documents are also available for inspection at Sittingbourne Library, Central Avenue, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 4AH during their normal opening hours.

See more updates

Project information

Current proposals would see the existing roundabout replaced with a new interchange, which is a flyover, to provide free-flowing movement on the A249.

Two new dedicated free-flowing slip roads would be created with a left turn for traffic travelling from the A249 southbound to the M2 westbound and a left turn from the A249 northbound to the M2 eastbound.

Maidstone Road to the A249 Stockbury Roundabout would be closed, and Maidstone Road would be re-routed to link with Oad Street. The existing junction of Oad Street with the A249 would be closed with a new link provided south of the existing Oad Street to connect with the A249 Stockbury Roundabout.

The M2 junction 5/A249 Stockbury Roundabout cannot cope with existing traffic flows. The junction is also one of the top 50 national casualty locations on England’s major ‘A’ roads and motorways.

One aim is to improve journey times. Our improvement scheme will reduce delays meaning people will have quicker and more reliable journeys. The scheme will improve the safety of the junction for all road users The improvements will support economic growth as increasing capacity at the junction will support the future housing and employment growth in the area.

Preferred Route Announcement (May 2018)
Consultation Report (May 2018)
Scheme Assessment Report (May 2018)
Scheme Assessment Report - Appendices
Consultation Brochure
Print questionnaire

We published the Orders for the M2 junction 5/A249 Stockbury Roundabout improvements scheme under the Highways Act 1980 on 13 June 2019 with a representation period of six weeks that ended on 25 July 2019.

The Orders and supporting documentation are still available to view online. Please visit the Highways Act 1980 Orders section below.

Since June 2019 modifications to the scheme have been proposed as a result of discussions with land owners and stakeholders.

The modifications require changes to the Side Roads Order (SRO) and Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO). The modifications can be found in detail under Highways Act 1980 Orders below and are described in the section 'Modifications to Orders' below.

As a result of these modifications and additional assessment in relation to air quality an Addendum to the Environmental Statement has also been published. This can be found under ‘Environmental 2019’ in the documents section below.

Both the modifications and the Environmental Statement Addendum were published for consultation on 24 January 2020. As of 7 February 2020 we have published a further additional assessment to the Environmental Statement Addendum Annex 1 which includes updates to the noise assessment following a re-run of the noise model and assessments of two additional construction compound sites.

These can be viewed in the Documents section below and are available for viewing in hard copy at Sittingbourne Library from 10 February 2020 until the start of the Public Inquiry.

The consultation period on the Environmental Statement Addendum Annex 1 ended on 9 March 2020. Highways England has considered representations made in preparing its documents for the Public Inquiry.

The preliminary design drawings are included in the Highways Act 1980 Orders section in the documents area below, along with the reports that detail the traffic assessments undertaken during the preliminary design.

The Highways England (A249 Trunk Road Stockbury Roundabout Improvements) (Side Roads) Order 2019

The Highways England (A249 Trunk Road Stockbury Roundabout Improvements) Compulsory Purchase Order 2019

The A249 Trunk Road (Stockbury Roundabout Improvements) Order 20..

Modifications to the Side Roads Order and Compulsory Purchase Order 2019

Supporting documents that have also been published include:

Statement of Reasons
Consultation Report
Preliminary Design Drawings (available in the 'Highways Act 1980 Orders' section below)
Scheme Assessment Report
Scheme Assessment Report - Appendices

Environmental Statement

Environmental Statement - Volume 1
Environmental Statement - Volume 2 – Appendices (available in the 'Environmental 2019' section below)
Environmental Statement - Volume 3 – Figures (available in the 'Environmental 2019' section below)
Environmental Statement - Non-technical Summary
Environmental Statement - Public Notice

Environmental Statement Addendum – Volume 1 Main Text
Environmental Statement Addendum – Volume 2 Appendices - Appendix D.6 Amended Habitat
Environmental Statement Addendum – Volume 3 Figures (please view addendum documents for Volume 3 in the 'Environmental 2019' section below)
Environmental Statement Addendum Annex 1 – Volume 1 Main Text

Core Documents on Deposit

View the Core Documents for links to all relevant documents.

Modifications to Orders

There have been a number of minor changes to the scheme since the orders were published on 13 June 2019. These are as a result of ongoing liaison with land owners and safety related improvements. They include:

A new field access at Whipstakes Farm is proposed to replace the one being stopped up under the Published Scheme. (MOD-1)
The provision of a secondary field access to the parcel of land located north of the M2 viaduct and between Maidstone Road and the A249 following a request for further mitigation by the affected landowner (MOD-2)
Amendment of Plot 1/8 for change of ownership (MOD-3)
Amendment of Plot 1/14 for change of ownership (MOD-4)
Amendment of Plot 1/21 for change of address (MOD-5)
The layout of the existing Church Hill junction to be modified as follows (MOD-6):

The existing U-turn facility would be removed. There would no longer be a need for a U-turn facility due to the provision of the link from South Green Lane to Oad Street and the Stockbury Roundabout.
The existing southbound deceleration lane would be lengthened to 110m, incorporating a 30m direct taper.
The merge corner radius would be changed.
The radius to Church Hill would be changed.
The minor road traffic island would be changed to the standard configuration.
The existing northbound left-turn auxiliary lane would be retained.