The second phase of the East Kent Access Road should be completed before the Open golf is held at Sandwich in 2011, councillors have said.

Work is due to start next year, but the whole scheme may not be finished until the end of 2011 or even into 2012.

Cllr Nigel Collor told the Dover Joint Transportation Board on Monday that he thought the road should be open in time for the Golf, even if it was not totally completed.

Members were told that it was expected that two legs of the road, including the one past Manston Airport, would be open, but Cllr Terry Birkett said he had heard that the scheme could fall back to 2013.

"We want to make sure that the thousands of people coming to the Open can move in and out quickly," said Cllr Collor.