A START date for building the much-needed second Swale crossing may be announced next week. Government Roads Minister David Jamieson is tipped to make a statement about progress on the new bridge during a visit to Sheppey on Thursday, February 14.

He will be visiting the Kingsferry Bridge with Sheppey MP Derek Wyatt. Islanders have already been told the new bridge should be open by late summer 2006, with work expected to commence in April, May or June 2003. But it is still not clear who will foot the £80 million bill.

Mr Wyatt said it was not yet resolved whether the project would be paid for entirely by the Government or through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI). If a PFI is the way forward, Mr Jamieson may be able to give an idea of when the partner company will be announced.

Mr Jamieson will also visit Queenborough and Rushenden. Mr Wyatt said: "There is an issue of traffic there, the heaviness of lorries, parking, etc. No one keeps to 30mph. It is a terror."

He said he would be pressing the case for the private road leading from the car compounds and past the Lady Hamilton pub to be opened up and made a public highway. He said: "We will be walking this route. It would need a crossing over the railway, but this is a simple solution that will solve the problems of getting into Rushenden. Also, it could almost put Queenborough back to where it was in the 1950s."