Plans for the long-awaited coastbound A2 off-slip at Wincheap are likely to be approved next week, paving the way for work to start on the £8.8 million scheme.

Pentland Homes is footing the total bill as a condition of its planning approval for the 750 home Thanington Park development.

The road scheme goes before the city council's planning committee on Tuesday with a recommendation from officers to grant.

Agents for the applicant say the new slip road is an "integral part" of the new Local Plan and has been designed in close consultation with Highways England and KCC Highways.

They add: "Another A2 off slip has been an aspiration of the city and county council for many years and has now been progressed by the developer providing funds to deliver it."

The design shows the road coming off the coastbound A2 and looping back around a remodelled Ten Perch Road and new roundabouts before joining the A28.

But Thanington Parish Council is objecting to the application and claims the council has ignored warnings in the parish's own independent traffic survey.

It calls it an "ill conceived" project and claims no consideration has been given to the already long queues of traffic leaving the supermarket to get onto the A28.

The Wincheap Society has also submitted a detailed objection, including echoing Thanington's fears about the design of the slip road and there being no comprehensive traffic plan for the area.

But in recommending approval, planning officers say the new slip road is "key piece of transport infrastructure" within the Local Plan that will both support growth and encourage more sustainable patterns of travel in the city.

They add: "The application has been the subject of detailed pre-application testing by Highways England and Kent County Council to ensure that matters such as traffic flows, queues and highways conditions have been thoroughly tested."

The new road will use some of the space of the existing Wincheap park and ride but the city council is also expected to shortly lodge its own separate planning application to expand the site from 600 to 850 spaces.