Highways England and a government advisory body will foot most of the £70 million cost of plans for a new junction off the M20.

The new Junction 10a in Ashford will be paid for by the transport authority and the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP), a public and private sector body which tells the government where to spend money to boost the county’s economy.

It comes as the Planning Inspectorate has launched a consultation on an application for a development consent order, a high-powered planning process which will allow authorities to take control of the land and build the project.

The new Junction 10a is proposed around 700m east of the existing Junction 10. It will use two bridges and connect to the existing A20 and a new dual carriageway link road built to the A2070 near Sevington.

Although Highways England and SELEP will meet the majority of the cost, some contributions will be made by developers in due course.

Cllr Gerry Clarkson, leader of Ashford Borough Council, said: “The authority will be a consultee on this application but we welcome the news that the application has progressed to the next stage.

“Junction 10a is a project of national importance, enhancing both the motorway itself and the future prosperity of Ashford..." - Damian Green MP

“This is a nationally significant infrastructure project and one of the priority projects that we wish to see come forward.”

Damian Green, MP for Ashford, said: “Junction 10a is a project of national importance, enhancing both the motorway itself and the future prosperity of Ashford.

“The benefits of this will be to improve local infrastructure, ease the pressure on the existing junction 10 and unlock the opportunities for future job creation.

“Ashford is all about improving local services, supporting businesses and helping maintain a high quality of life for everyone, and I welcome the progress being made.”

Jo James, chief executive of Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, said: “So much economic activity has been locked up while we waited for this project to come forward and with this announcement the brakes will finally come off these investments.”