LAKESIDE has been criticised for blocking the Lower Thames Crossing "mobile information centre" from visiting the shopping centre.

Highways England was due to host an information event at Lakeside on Friday, but this has now been cancelled.

An email from Highways England indicates that the general manager was not happy with the vans appearance.

The email said: "Unfortunately, yesterday we were informed by Lakeside Shopping Centre that they are no longer prepared to host the mobile information centre event we had planned for this Friday, 16 November.

"The decision was made by the General Manager of the shopping centre, who has said he doesn’t like the van’s appearance.

"This is disappointing news, particularly as we had approximately 220 visitors at the van when it was hosted at Bluewater last Saturday, but we have been unable to persuade him to change his mind. We have therefore amended the information on our website to say the event has been cancelled.”

A spokesman for the Lower Thames Crossing Action group slammed the decision, despite being opposed to the plans.

A spokesman said: "Bluewater and other shopping centres and locations have not had a problem, so what is intu Lakeside Center Manager’s problem?

"Do intu Lakeside rate appearances of a regular van above its reputation and relationship with the community many of which are residents who are also customers and staff at Lakeside?

"Will intu Lakeside start rating customers cars to decide if they approve of their appearance to be parked in the car parks when we go shopping?!

"As an action group who are opposed to the proposed LTC we are not fans of HE, but we can see the importance of these info events, and we are very disappointed to hear that intu Lakeside Center Manager rates appearances of the van over our local community."