by Alan Watkins

An announcement that the new Lower Thames Crossing will be at Dartford is expected to be made within six months.

The news was broken by KCC's transport supremo, Cllr Bryan Sweetland (Con).

He was speaking at a meeting in his Gravesham East ward during a discussion on the proposed London hub airport.

Pressure for a new crossing is growing because a new container terminal is being built at Stanford-le-Hope.

The original favourite route was from the A2 along Thong Lane, Gravesend, through Chalk and across the north Kent marshes into Essex.

"A second bridge at Dartford is, I suspect, what will be announced in the next six months.

"We cannot object to an airport in the Thames Estuary or on the Isle of Grain if we then support a crossing to the east of Gravesend," he told the ward's Neighbourhood Forum.

A bridge and new technology would mean Dartford's toll booths (pictured below) could be scrapped.

Cllr Sweetland insisted the right answer to Heathrow's capacity problems was to use existing spare capacity at Manston, Gatwick and Birmingham.

None was more than an hour away from Heathrow or London by high speed train.

One person in the audience, Clive Lawrence from Demand Regeneration In North Kent (DRINK) said councillors would be wise to plan for the possibility that either Boris Island or Lord Foster's Grain airport might be backed by the government.

KCC officers said after the meeting they would consider organizing a meeting between all the different groups where the issues could be openly discussed and opposing views considered by the public and councillors.