A final decision on the preferred route for the new A120 is set to be made next month.

Essex County Council initially planned to narrow the choices down by November, however agreed to discount one route but leave the four others on the table.

Option A, which ran closest to the current line of the existing A120, was discounted entirely.

However, out of the other four, there was no overwhelmingly strong option.

A new timetable for the project states a decision will be made by June, in time for the Government’s Road Investment Strategy 2 in 2019.

Kevin Bentley, deputy leader of Essex County Council, said: “It is important that we conclude the technical work, which is a key component of Highways England process, before we can announce the best performing option.

“As there was no overwhelmingly strong single candidate option in November 2017, all of the remaining route options are undergoing further modelling and technical studies to determine which should be recommended to Highways England.”