The route of a road leading to a new tunnel under the Thames Estuary has been revealed as the most expensive option, going through greenbelt land.

The chosen option "C" will see a new road link the M25, near North Ockendon, Essex, with the A2 near Shorne, Kent.

The transport secretary said it would create more than 6,000 jobs and boost the economy by more than £8bn.

Adam Holloway, Gravesham's Conservative MP, said it was a "crazy idea" and "a disaster for the people of Dartford".

Under the plans, the new road will cross the A13 at Orsett, and connect land east of Tilbury to land east of Gravesend.

A new road will then take traffic to the A2, near Thong, via the Western Southern Link.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the new Lower Thames Crossing would also "reduce the burden on the busy Dartford Crossing".

A public consultation over the crossing started in January last year, which recommended "C" as the favoured route.

However, opponents raised objections to the fact it would cut through greenbelt land and its proximity to homes and schools.

Mike Golsby, of anti-option C campaign group, A Bridge Too Far, said it would have a "detrimental affect" on the local area around Shorne and would not solve the traffic problems at Dartford.

Options available

There were originally three main idea for a new crossing location:

• A - another crossing at the current Dartford Tunnel site and the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.
• B - a route across the Swancombe Peninsula, which was earlier scrapped.
• C - connecting the M25 to the A2 with multiple variants.

Gravesham MP Mr Holloway, who also objected to the route, told the BBC earlier: "It's bad news for some of my constituents in terms of some of them having a dirty great road at the end of their garden.

"It's a crazy idea. They [the Department for Transport] have no numbers on what portion of this traffic is national, and what is regional.

"It's also a disaster for the people of Dartford. We've had this once in a generation opportunity to fix the problem at Dartford and separate the long range national traffic with the low range local traffic, and it's been flopped."

However, according to the Department for Transport (DfT), the chosen option was picked by nearly 47,000 people who took part in a consultation.

A spokesman for the DfT said the C route had been "optimised" after the consultation, and moved slightly east to avoid people's homes.

Mr Grayling also promised £10m to help tackle traffic jams around the existing crossing.

Dartford's Conservative MP Gareth Johnson welcomed the decision, saying it was right "for Dartford but also for the whole country".

He added: "It would have been wrong to locate another crossing at Dartford and funnel more traffic in to the area and on to roads that can't cope as it is.

"I understand this decision may not be welcomed by residents in Gravesend but we will do what we can to ensure the impact on the environment is limited.

"For more than a decade there has been uncertainty about where this crossing would be placed. Now the decision has been made we must get on with the task of building it."

The Lower Thames Crossing is expected to carry 4.5 million lorries in its first year.

source: @BBC News