An Essex County Council engineer has denied claims that a proposed dual carriageway will be used as a London orbital road.

Chartered engineer Brian Walpole was speaking at a public inquiry into the planned route of the controversial A130 yesterday.

He said: "A planned London orbital does not appear in the National Roads Programme, it does not appear in the South East Transport Strategy or the Structure Plan.

"No traffic document that I know of, that relates to national or regional transport, includes anything remotely like the concept of an outer orbital."

Mr Walpole spoke after it was suggested the county council planned to use the A130 as a motorway around the capital once the road was built.

Residents and green protesters are furious at plans put forward by the county council which show the four-lane highway cutting through south Essex from the Rettendon Turnpike down to Sadlers Farm, Benfleet.

Dozens have turned up at the inquiry at the former Park School in Rawreth Lane, Rayleigh, to voice their opinions on the proposed road.

Solicitor Richard Buxton, representing the Essex Alliance of Sustainable Transport, asked Mr Walpole if the council intended to create a London orbital route.

He claimed the environmental statement of May 1990 on the northern section of the A130 did make reference to a London orbital road.

Jane Lovell, of Sandleigh Road in Leigh, added: "The only reason for the road is to create a key link to the continent.

"If this goes ahead we will have people from Edinburgh driving through Essex to get to London or France. The council has not proved the need for the road, which will be a visual monstrosity. I feel very sorry for all the residents who will be living near it."

But Mr Walpole said south Essex would benefit from the new road.

He told the inquiry: "There will be a growth in traffic over time and since we are also looking at the prospective regeneration of south Essex as a result of the new road, this will naturally add to the volume of traffic as people travel to work.

There is a hierarchy of roads and the new A130 has been planned to provide adequate capacity for the number of cars expected to travel on it.

"The new road will mean the council will be able to introduce traffic management measures on the A130 corridor and cut the number of rat runs that are made on side roads."

The inquiry is expected to continue until next Tuesday when the Government inspector, Allan Blackeley, will have the power to abandon the current scheme if he is convinced it is not beneficial to the county.

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