Plans for a £12.2 million tunnel connecting Ebbsfleet Garden City with Bluewater Shopping Centre are to be discussed tonight in a bid to improve future transport links.

It comes as construction works truck along at the Whitecliffe housing development, promising to provide 6,250 new homes at locations which border both the Greenhithe shopping centre and new Ebbsfleet development.

It's being proposed that a new tunnel would be used for a Fasttrack bus service.

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Although two haulage tunnels previously used during the construction of Bluewater during the 1990’s still exist but KCC investigations into their potential use found it would be more cost effective to construct a new tunnel

Council officers have noted that a residential road network would need to be constructed as part of the plan, one that crosses Spine Road and will link to the existing Hedge End roundabout on Bean Road at the Northern edge of Bluewater.

The route would also incorporate a footpath and cycleway linking Eastern Quarry and Bluewater.

Speaking on these plans, KCC cabinet member for highways Mike Whiting said: "Fastrack is one of the core infrastructure projects for the Ebbsfleet Garden City and the completed scheme will contribute substantially to getting people onto public transport.

"In the design, every resident will be within 10 minutes of a Fastrack stop and 90 per cent within five minutes ensuring that residents and business users can move freely around the development and between housing, business and leisure locations."

The cost of the new tunnel link would be covered by forward funding from the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, the authority responsible for delivering the Garden City which aims to create 15,000 new homes by 2035.