The public is being urged to tweet their support for Great Yarmouth's Third River Crossing using the #GY3RC hashtag.

Eastern Daily Press: Yarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County CouncilYarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council (Image: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council)

It is hoped the messages will show the government the strength of support for a third river crossing in Great Yarmouth.

Norfolk County Council is launching a campaign to keep £121m plans to build a new bridge firmly on the government radar.

Today the council is launching a social media campaign on its Twitter profile @NorfolkCC using the #GY3RC hashtag and posting on its Facebook page asking people to retweet, share, like, comment and post their own reasons and experiences to demonstrate why Great Yarmouth needs a third river crossing.

Any social media will be used as evidence by the council to keep the project firmly on the government's radar and show how important this bridge is to the town and to Norfolk as a whole

Eastern Daily Press: Yarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County CouncilYarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council (Image: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council)

The campaign, which is a first for the project, comes on the same day that the council's environment, development and transport committee will look at the progress of the third crossing plans.

A report says it is hoped the bridge will be open to traffic in 2023 and a public consultation showed people were in favour of a bascule bridge instead of an alternative plan of a swing bridge.

The council says it hopes to hear before the end of the year if the government will award it funding to develop the planning application and detailed surveys and design work for the third river crossing.

Martin Wilby, chairman of the council committee, called on people in Yarmouth to support the social media campaign.

Eastern Daily Press: Yarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County CouncilYarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council (Image: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council)

He said: 'The third river crossing stands to make a huge difference to Yarmouth, relieving traffic congestion and shortening journey times, greatly improving transport links to the port and enterprise zone, and attracting investment and creating jobs.

'Getting the third river crossing built relies on securing funding from the government, so we want to leave ministers in no doubt of the local support that exists for getting this bridge built as soon as possible.

'Please back our social media campaign to arm us with even more evidence with which we can convince the decision-makers that this project needs to be funded as a priority.'

Chris Starkie, chief executive officer at New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, said: 'The case for a third river crossing is a compelling one.'

Eastern Daily Press: Yarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County CouncilYarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council (Image: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council)

Eastern Daily Press: Yarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County CouncilYarmouth third crossing. Photo: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council (Image: Courtesy of Norfolk County Council)