This article originally appeared on KentOnline.
Utility companies have admitted they “can do better” and have pledged to improve communication and reduce disruption on a busy stretch of street.
Southern Gas Network (SGN), UK Power Network (UKPN) and Medway Council’s highways team faced questions from Lower Rainham Road residents about the seemingly constant disruption on their road.
At the community event organised by Gillingham and Rainham MP, Naushabah Khan (Lab), SGN and UKPN admitted they needed to improve on making people aware of when there would be works and the extent of them.
Residents said they had put up with damage to their properties and abuse from drivers who were frustrated by the lack of notice about the closed roads and business owners said they had lost significant income.
Particularly, they said there wasn’t enough advance warning of closures for planned works and then when it was closed, signage was unclear of where the closure actually started and diversion signs were confusing.
SGN and UKPN accepted that while they did notify people via letters and social media, this wasn’t as effective as could be and so took on board suggestions made by the audience.
They said they would instruct their communications teams to post about closures directly into local community Facebook groups rather than just posting on the company’s own pages.
Aaron Janes, UKPN’s lead field engineer, said he would provide his phone number so he could contact an admin of local Whatsapp chats to provide warning of planned or emergency roadworks as quickly as possible so it could be shared.
He also said UKPN had put in a system whereby any engineer who wanted to arrange planned repairs on the Lower Rainham Road would have to contact him before they could do so, so he could notify residents.
Mr Jones added: “I recognise we can do better, and I know the frustration which this can cause – I’ve got caught up in it myself occasionally when I’m trying to get home.
“We have put and are putting in place ways to try and limit the impact, and we will look to use the suggestions this evening, because we recognise the situation right now isn’t working.”
Stakeholder and community manager for SGN, Helen Peile, accepted there were problems where signs warned of a closed road well in advance of where the actual closure was.
This meant motorists were unsure of how far they could go before they needed to turn off and ended up arriving at the point where they would have to turn around.
She said SGN would look into ways of displaying information about the extent of the closure so drivers would know whether their destination was before or after it.
This could be through electronic signs or signs which could be written on with more details.
Karen Tamsett, Medway Council’s highway management engineer, said the authority was collating data to apply to the government for a Lane Rental Scheme for Lower Rainham Road, meaning it could charge up to £2,500 per day for road closures.
This would incentivise more efficient and quicker working, hopefully reducing the number and length of disruptions.
SGN, UKPN and Medway Council were also able to dispell rumours audience members had heard that there were plans to shut Lower Rainham Road for six months to undergo major works.
They did provide information that the next roadworks for the route would be between February 17 and 20, but this would be a set of traffic lights, rather than a full closure at 333 Lower Rainham Road.
There will be a road closure from April 7 to 11 by UKPN at 728 Lower Rainham Road and a Southern Water closure between May 25 and June 1 at 652 Lower Rainham Road.
MP Naushabah Khan also addressed concerns raised by residents about the draft Local Plan which has designated land off Pump Lane for housing and the likely impact on Lower Rainham Road.
She said: “For clarity, I do recognise the need for housing, I also recognise the need for a local plan, but that particular site is problematic.
“The infrastructure around Lower Rainham Road, the A2, everything we’ve talked about tonight, does give us cause for concern.
“I think people are right to raise that the level of pressure the road is taking compared to what it was designed to do are not not in sync.
“It isn’t the first time I’ve raised it with the planning officer, but I’m very happy we’ll take this back to the planning team and continue that ongoing conversation around how we manage infrastructure in Rainham versus how we then deliver housing.”
On the disruption caused by roadworks she said although there would always be disruptions at times, there had to be improvements to the ways these were mitigated to reduce the impact on residents.
She added: “We need to find a solution to this because it feels like it’s a constant problem.
“The solution is not going to be that the road never closes, but there are better ways to do it.”
The community meeting took place at the Holy Trinity Twydall, Gillingham, last night (February 12) following frustration from residents about the amount of closures on Lower Rainham Road.
In 2025, the road, one of the main arteries serving Rainham, was closed 15 times, with 13 of those instances being emergency works with limited notice given.
While Southern Water were not in attendance, Ms Khan said she would provide feedback from the discussion to them and ask them to make improvements too.