St Dunstan's Zebra Move Waits; Redhouse Lane to Go One-Way

Kent County Council has not yet decided whether to move the zebra crossing on Station Road West, by Canterbury West station, closer to St Dunstan’s Street. More people backed the move than opposed it in a consultation this summer. But a quarter of those who commented feared a crossing so close to the mini roundabout would cause queues and sudden braking, and the county is now running traffic models before it decides.

The second half of the same scheme will go ahead. The buff-coloured surface on the mini roundabout is to be taken up so the white markings show.

Updated 10 November: the minutes of the Joint Transportation Board of 20 October are now published. Councillors agreed that option 2, the one-way route, was the preferred solution for Redhouse Lane. On St Dunstan’s, they asked for the costs of the work to be shared with them; the county’s highway manager said the queuing concern “would have been considered and taken into account”. The minutes also record that Kent County Council has launched a formal public consultation on a junction improvement scheme for St Stephen’s Hill.

In a separate scheme, the county proposes to make Redhouse Lane, off Chartham Downs Road, one-way southbound after five injury crashes at the junction.

Both schemes were set out in reports to Canterbury’s Joint Transportation Board on Tuesday 20 October. The board was asked only to note them. Both would be paid for from the county’s Crash Remedial Measures fund.

St Dunstan’s Street and Station Road West

The county’s report on the junction calls it a crash cluster site. Six injury collisions were recorded there in the three years to 31 December 2024:

• three involved vehicles turning at the mini roundabout
• two involved pedestrians crossing Station Road West near the junction
• one involved a pedestrian near the level crossing, who walked into the road as a car pulled out of a parking space

The zebra crossing on Station Road West is about 30 metres from the junction. The report says observations on site show many people walking down St Dunstan’s Street cross at the junction itself rather than walk down to the zebra. Moving the crossing closer would put it on that natural line.

The junction was given a buff-coloured high-friction surface to make drivers slow down. The report says its drawback is that the white road markings do not show up clearly against it.

What people said

The consultation ran from 15 May to 25 June 2026 and drew 136 responses. One was from Kent Police and 123 were from Canterbury residents.

The most common comments on the crossing:

• 71 people (53%) said it would give a better, safer or more convenient place to cross
• 33 (25%) worried it would be too close to the roundabout, causing congestion, conflict, sudden braking and distraction
• 28 (21%) wanted guard railing to steer people to the existing crossing instead
• 22 (17%) thought it would affect traffic flow on St Dunstan’s Street

The county rejects the railing idea. Its report says people often walk on the road side of guard rails to save distance, which brings them closer to traffic. It adds that rails could block loading for St Dunstan’s businesses.

The report accepts that a crossing nearer the junction leaves less room for cars to queue. It says the county is modelling traffic on a weekday and on a Saturday, in the peak holiday season and in school and university term time, “to see if queuing is likely to increase and if so, by how much”. That work will inform “whether and how to proceed”. No date is given.

Redhouse Lane, Chartham Downs

Redhouse Lane is a narrow rural lane linking Chartham Downs Road with Street End and the B2068 Stone Street, south of Canterbury.

The county’s report on the junction says five injury collisions were recorded where Redhouse Lane and Iffin Lane meet Chartham Downs Road, in the three years to 31 December 2024. Four involved vehicles pulling out of Redhouse Lane. In three of those, the vehicle hit traffic on Chartham Downs Road coming from the right, where the view is limited.

Warning signs, SLOW markings and a STOP junction have been tried already. The report says crashes kept happening, and that the sightlines cannot be fixed without major works outside the budget.

The county consulted on two options from 20 May to 30 June and had 54 responses:

The county has dropped the full closure. The report says it could lead to fly-tipping and anti-social behaviour. The household at The Red House also raised fuel oil deliveries and large vehicles, which would have had to reverse about 300 metres without a turning circle. A turning circle would need land the scheme cannot afford.

Option 2 will go forward to detailed design and a traffic regulation order. The report admits one-way roads often make drivers go faster, because they no longer expect to meet anyone. It suggests closing the straight-on slip road off Stone Street to help. The county will also keep trimming verges, and it has asked a landowner whether a fence could be moved back to improve the view out of Iffin Lane.

What it means for you

• If you walk from Canterbury West into town, nothing changes yet. The zebra stays where it is until the traffic modelling is done. The roundabout’s buff surface is due to go, but no date has been published.
• If you drive through St Dunstan’s, the question the county is testing is whether a closer crossing lengthens the queue back towards the level crossing. We will report the result when it is published.
• If you use Redhouse Lane, you will in time only be able to drive it southbound, from Chartham Downs Road towards Street End and Stone Street. The report says the one-way rule would apply to cyclists as well as cars.
• To object or comment on the Redhouse Lane order, watch for the traffic regulation order notice. Kent County Council publishes these on the Public Notice Portal and on site. We list Canterbury district orders on our roadworks and travel page.

The consultation pages are at kent.gov.uk/stationroadwestcrossing and kent.gov.uk/redhouselane.