BOROUGH councillors have welcomed the progress made on plans for a new motorway junction to take the strain off Junction 10 at Ashford.

Works to improve Junction 10 are expected to be completed in July but councillors and other government bodies, believe a new junction to the south-east of the existing one will be necessary to support the growth of the town.

The new junction is likely to take the form of a conventional raised roundabout, linking the M20 to the A2070 and the A20. The Highways Agency, in consultation with Ashford council and Kent County Council, decided this was the best option.

It is expected that this plan will be put before ministers for approval to go to public consultation in the summer. Work is expected to start in 2010, with a projected finishing date in 2012.

The new junction, to be called M20 Junction 10a, received a boost last week when English Partnerships, a development quango, agreed to provide money to complete the forward funding for the project.

The scheme is being paid for mostly by the Highways Agency, with the remaining third of the cost to be met by the private sector.

English Partnerships have agreed to pay this money in advance, providing it can be paid back.

Ashford council’s role will be to work with the private developers who will benefit from the new junction.

They will be expected to make contributions towards the cost of Junction 10a as part of planning permission agreements.

A similar scheme is helping to pay for Junction 10, for which forward funding was provided by developers Taylor Woodrow.

More than £2m has been received from private companies towards these repayment costs so far.

Speaking at a meeting of Ashford council’s executive committee, council leader Paul Clokie said: “I think we have to be very pleased that English Partnerships are partners in the growth of Ashford, and are helping in this way.”