MOTORISTS may have to wait several years before they finally see an end to the chronic traffic congestion around Junction 10 of the M20 at Ashford.

The Government has announced the green light for a new junction and link road at what has become the M20’s most blighted spot in a bid to ease the town's well-documented traffic problems.

But while long-suffering motorists will welcome the news, it was not immediately clear where the money for what will become Junction 10A would be coming from. Neither was it clear where the new junction would be.

Ministers said that while the new junction – which will be somewhere to the east of the existing Willesborough junction - was now a Government priority, developers would have to come up with some of the money to pay for it.

The Government’s reluctance to say how the scheme would be funded led council chiefs to sound a note of caution. There was also criticism from Ashford MP Damian Green.

Ashford council leader Cllr Paul Clokie (Con) said: “If the government is saying that it is going to build a new junction, that is superb news. But I am less happy if they are only saying that it will be built only if developers come up with £24million. They cannot expect that to happen and it would be unfair if they did.”

The Government needed to underwrite the scheme to ensure the gap between what developers came up with and total costs could be met, he added.

Unless that happened, the scheme could be delayed and business investment frustrated.

Ashford MP Damian Green, shadow Conservative transport minister, said: “It is a case of giving the Government one cheer. But what we need to know is what sort of time scale we are looking at and who is supposed to be funding it. If we do rely entirely on developers, it may take even longer to build.”

Speaking at a conference in Folkestone Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott told an audience of council chiefs, local community groups and other public sector organisations he recognised the problems around Junction 10.

He added: “I know this news will be very welcome and that this has proved an obstacle [to investment],” he said.

The scheme will feature a new junction and dual carriageway link road to provide a new route into Ashford.

The dual carriageway link road will join the A2070 Southern Orbial Road and Junction 10A, as well as link to the existing junction and A20.

Roads minister David Jamieson said: “We are committed to tackling congestion and freeing up roads for local communities and business. This scheme is vitally important to the future development of Ashford.”

In a second piece of good news, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said improvements to the existing Junction 10 would start next year.

In recent weeks, a spate of accidents at Junction 10 has led to worse-than-usual delays and jams for motorists.

The Highways Agency says that a public exhibition about its plans would be held next Autumn.