A public consultation for a £6.8billion tunnel connecting Kent and Essex has been extended.

Highways England are giving people an extra week to have their say on the controversial Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) plans, due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A consultation has been underway since Wednesday, January 29, and was due to finish this week.

However, the government owned operator has now extended the deadline until 11.59pm on Thursday, April 2.

It comes as public information events are cancelled, with 18 of Highways England's 22 planned events already taken place - attracting 4,000 people.

Now, the authority has opened a telephone service for two days which is to give people who had planned to attend any remaining events the opportunity to speak to the project team about any changes.

People can ring between 2pm and 8pm on Monday, March 23 and Wednesday, March 25.

“The Lower Thames Crossing is part of the biggest investment in the country’s roads for a generation."

Highways England project director for the LTC, Adam Seywright, said: “We’ve been encouraged by the strong public turnout at our events so far, and these additional steps we are taking are the right thing to do in response to the disruption from the coronavirus pandemic.

"Extending the supplementary consultation period to Thursday, April 2, will give everyone extra time to understand the changes and give us feedback, either online or by returning a paper response form.

"It's an uncertain time and we’re doing whatever it takes to get in touch with our communities, safely and responsibly.

“The Lower Thames Crossing is part of the biggest investment in the country’s roads for a generation.

"It will boost local, regional and national economies, with new connections, better journeys and fewer delays. We’ll keep listening and talking to our stakeholders in the most practicable ways to make sure they can have their say and seek answers for their questions.”

The crossing, which will connect Gravesend and Tilbury, has been criticised by many and Highways England revealed they received 29,000 responses to their last consultation in 2018.

It will provide a new 14.3 mile, 70mph road, and be the world's third-widest bored tunnel.

Highways England explain it will "almost double road capacity" across the River Thames and will "connect communities, reduce delays and provide more reliable journeys".

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