Dartford is first in line for a £4 million boost, primarily because of the strain from the Dartford Crossing.

Last week, the town centre was earmarked at number one on a list of 41 schemes across the south east to receive money should a £229 million bid to the government be successful.

It is being made by The South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP), a body set up to help economic growth.

According to the submission, Dartford’s potential is impeded by endless transport woes.

The SELEP report calls on the government to act “decisively and quickly to see the construction of the new Lower Thames Crossing – located to the east of Gravesham and Tilbury.”

The backing of Highway’s England’s preferred Option C route – a tunnel east of Gravesend and a road network through Shorne and Chalk – comes from a business standpoint.

The report states that Kent’s ports are rarely the end for freight journeys, which is mainly to the midlands and north.

Freight traffic “places significant stress on the major pinch point ... the Dartford Crossing”.

Put together by Graham Peters, George Kieffer, Christian Brodie and Geoff Miles on the SELEP board, the bid states: “73% of business leaders say traffic congestion at Dartford affects their business. And 60% thought their business would grow and almost 50% said that they could employ more people if the problem of congestion were addressed.”

Statistics show the crossing is closed or partially closed due to an incident more than 300 times a year, almost once every day.

It typically takes between three and five hours for backlogged traffic to clear.

Dartford MP Gareth Johnson responded to the report: “Another crossing in the lower Thames area cannot come soon enough.

“We expect an announcement in the autumn as to which of the options will be decided upon.

“As soon as that happens we need to see an immediate start on the building of the thing so we can start to reduce the amount of traffic congestion in the area.”