Plan to extend £16bn rail route

The rail link would connect London with Heathrow and north Kent

The £16bn Crossrail project to build a 74-mile rail network across London could now be extended to north Kent.

The existing scheme would see the rail project connecting London with Essex, Berkshire and Heathrow Airport and stopping at Abbey Wood.

But Gravesham Council said it had been asked by the government and Transport for London to safeguard land to take the route to Denton in Gravesend.

The project received the Parliamentary go-ahead in July.

Trains are expected to start running from 2017.

The rail project is the UK's biggest transport project since the Channel Tunnel and could create up to 30,000 jobs, experts have said.

We would urge that it becomes a firm commitment Mike Snelling

Gravesham Borough Council leader Mike Snelling has welcomed the proposal.

He said: "The prospect of Crossrail terminating at Gravesend has enormous potential.

"But the problem is that it is, as it stands, a vague idea and we would urge that it becomes a firm commitment."

Papers for a cabinet meeting on Monday recommended that members support the proposed extension to Gravesend and initiate discussions with the government over plans for railway stations in north Kent.

But a report also outlined concerns about a "potential negative impact" on regeneration of safeguarded areas.

It also said there was a case to be made with other local authorities - Kent, Dartford and the London Borough of Bexley - for the plans to become a commitment.

And Gravesham council officers said it was important the plans did not hold up other local transport proposals.