Plans to build a bypass to bring traffic on and off the A3 near Chessington World of Adventures are being revisited by Kingston Council 25 years after the idea was originally floated.

It is hoped that building a motorway connecting the A243 and A3 south of Malden Rushett, cutting past Oxshott, will help ease congestion in Chessington and Hook, which is expected to worsen if the high-speed Crossrail 2 arrives in the borough.

But it will have to plough through greenbelt land.

Kingston Council leader Kevin Davis has been meeting with Government ministers to discuss revisiting the scheme, but he says housing developments in neighbouring Epsom have made the task more difficult.

He said: “It’s very early days. We have looked at some options. It’s not a completely new idea, but I don’t think we’ll be replicating the plan from the 1990s.

“Part of the reason why we are having the discussion about the Malden bypass is because other boroughs are building homes around there. They’re putting pressure on Malden Rushett.”

The building of a £25m bypass was first proposed by the Government in 1990, but was met with indignation as 1,000 letters of complaint were sent to the Transport Secretary by angry Chessington residents.

Jim Taylor, of the Chessington District Residents’ Association, said: “A new factor in the equation is the 500 homes on the Epsom cluster site.

“Another problem is trying to fund a road that is expected to go through the greenbelt, but anything that eases traffic on the A243 is welcome to us.”

Kingston and Surbiton MP James Berry said: “Traffic on the A243 in Chessington and Hook is terrible.

“What many remember as a fairly residential road now has the feeling of a main London artery.

“I pledged to residents to do what I could as the local MP to reduce traffic on the A243.

“The main issue will be the very high cost, so this is going to be a big campaign over the coming months and years.”

Kingston Liberal Democrat opposition leader Liz Green said: “Yes, the traffic is horrendous round that way, but will it actually reduce the traffic flow or just put more pressure on the A3?"

Transport for London and the Department for Transport did not comment on plans for the bypass.