FORMER Transport Secretary Stephen Byers is being urged by environmentalists to back a campaign against the building of a second Tyne Tunnel.

A planning application for the scheme has been submitted to the Department of Transport (DoT).

Normal planning rules do not apply as the crossing theoretically involves shipping routes, so a "special case" application has to be made to the DoT's transport and works department.

Pressure group Friends of the Earth, which opposes the scheme, says it will be an early test of whether new Transport Secretary Alistair Darling "is serious about sustainable solutions to Britain's transport problems, or remains in thrall to the car lobby".

The 1.6km tunnel is being sponsored by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority, in partnership with North Tyneside and South Tyneside borough councils.

The £100m cost of the tunnel is planned to be met by a consortium of private sector investors, who will then take responsibility for both Tyne Tunnels and will set tolls.

Under the planning procedure, objectors have 42 days to register their concerns. Mr Darling will then have to decide whether to allow or refuse the project, or call a public inquiry.

Mr Byers, who is MP for North Tyneside, is being pressed to join the objectors.

Campaigners against the new tunnel say it is not needed and claim that existing tunnels and river crossings could simply be improved.

Friends of the Earth says it would be "short-term relief for a long-term problem".

Tyne Tunnel Alliance spokesman Brian Paget said: "Local people now have a window of opportunity to register their concerns."