The government today released details of a controversial £7bn package of road expansion schemes in England, and published a consultation document on future road charging.

However some of the predicted road schemes, including two bypasses and a route along the south coast, have been rejected on environmental grounds.

The programme, which was outlined by the transport secretary, Alistair Darling, includes the £1.7bn widening of the 120-mile M25 from three lanes to four.

That has sparked anger among environmental campaigners, who have pointed out that previous widening of the London orbital motorway has filled up with the resulting increased traffic almost immediately.

A £1.2bn package of widening and expansion to the M1, M18, M62 and the A1/A1(M) in Yorkshire was also given the green light.

In addition, the M1 between the M25 and Milton Keynes, in Buckinghamshire, is to be widened to four lanes at a cost of £623m.

Proposed bypasses at Stourbridge and Wolverhampton, in the west Midlands, have been rejected on environmental grounds, as have schemes on the A27 along the south coast in Sussex.

Mr Darling today also published a discussion paper, entitled Managing Our Roads, which looks at the possible introduction of nationwide road charging.

But although he has given a number of projects the go-ahead, it will be three to four years before any work begins on the major schemes. The M25 work may not be completed for a decade.

Mr Darling told MPs: "This new investment in our major transport corridors will deliver real improvements for people and businesses across the country.

"But unless there is an overriding public interest, there should be a strong presumption against building roads through areas of outstanding natural beauty or other sensitive sites."

And, attempting to lay the ground for a public debate on road charging, he added: "Road user charging has to be considered as part of sensible management of our roads. It could provide a far better deal for motorists, giving them choice as to how and when they travel.

"So, today, I have ordered a feasibility study to look at the practicalities of such a scheme.

"There are many issues that need to be addressed, such as protection of privacy and whether any scheme could work technically.

"We would be failing future generations if we did not find out whether this is feasible and examine what gains could come from it."

As well as throwing out the Stourbridge and Wolverhampton bypass schemes, Mr Darling rejected schemes on the A27 along the south coast at the Sussex towns of Arundel, Chichester, Worthing, Selmeston and Wilmington.

He also announced a £1bn package of major public transport and road improvements in the west Midlands, potentially including a light rail and bus scheme.

Local authorities in the Thames Valley and other areas were also being encouraged to develop proposals for long-distance coach and bus services, park-and-ride sites and transport interchanges.

The prospect of road charging was accepted by both the CBI and the Freight Transport Association.

For the Conservatives, the shadow transport minister, Tim Collins, said that neither motorists nor business would get a fair deal.

Even after the proposed road building, the UK would still have "significantly fewer" miles of motorway per head of population than any other major EU economy.

Mr Collins was concerned that hi-tech tracking devices proposed to keep a check on car use would be expensive for car owners and could breach confidentiality.

He said that road pricing was a "stealth tax", additional to the "sky high" road taxes already in place.

"Charging motorists for driving on any roads at up to 50p a mile cannot be remotely justified when we already have the highest fuel taxes in the western world," he said.

Paul Hamblin, the head of transport policy at the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), said: "We welcome the decision to reject certain schemes in the west Midlands and in Sussex, but we need firm action to tackle car dependency and manage demand if the spectre of road-building is not to continue to hang over valuable areas of countryside.

Sustainable transport group Transport 2000 also welcomed the west Midlands and Sussex decisions, but director Stephen Joseph said: "Widening roads will not solve congestion: it will simply put more cars on the road and make things worse in the long run.

"It will be bad for motorists and bad for the environment."

The group said that many environmentally sensitive sites would be affected by the roads, with people facing increased traffic noise and air pollution, as well as new developments springing up alongside the roads.

It added that today's decisions were "unbalanced", because Mr Darling had committed billions of pounds to new roads but had not given firm commitments to new public transport or local transport schemes.

Mr Joseph added: "Without such schemes, and a firm programme to introduce charging, the government will be sentencing motorists to unending jams, and many communities, especially near roads, will face increased pressures for new roads-based development and urban sprawl."

Colin Clinton, chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers' transport board, said: "Measures to sustainably improve the condition of the country's road network are a major step forward - certainly better than recent and proposed measures of opening the hard shoulder to ease congestion."