A letter has winged its way to the Transport Secretary as part of an 11th hour bid to have the new Lower Thames Crossing built east of Gravesend.

The government is tipped to announce their decision on the location of the long-awaited crossing in the next week, and Dartford MP Gareth Johnson and the borough council leader Cllr Jeremy Kite are desperate for it to be further down the river.

Both have signed a letter sent to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling MP on Wednesday, urging him not to approve of another crossing at the existing site in Dartford.

"We urge you to make the right decision – right for our region, right for motorists, right for air quality, right for local people and right for the economy," the letter reads.

"If our country is to continue to prosper as we widen our economic horizons - as we know it can - it needs a commitment to the right infrastructure, not just the cheap or easy solution.

“Residents and motorists can see that only Option C provides the necessary resilience to keep our region and economy moving."

It continues: “We have, as I hope you know, been making our points robustly but reasonably for many months now.

"We have done so because we know how catastrophic a failure to provide a new crossing away from Dartford would be – to health, to the well-being of local people, to the economy, to ambition and to growth.

"It is time for the right decision and your commitment.”

Mr Johnson said another crossing at Dartford would be "catastrophic" for the area, adding that the roads could not cope with the situation as it was and that pollution levels were already dangerously high.

The government has been urged to make a decision on the third Thames crossing by business chiefs who say the indecision is hurting the county’s economy.

Critics of the proposal for a crossing east of Gravesend include Kent County Council's Gravesham East councillor Bryan Sweetland, who has said building there would not solve Dartford's traffic woes.