"Lower Thames Crossing will not solve the problems of the Dartford Crossing" says action group
Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, backs £9bn crossing from Gravesend, Kent, to Tilbury, Essex, as "important project"
Last updated 30th Jan 2025
We're hearing from an action group campaigning against a crossing connecting Essex to Kent that traffic would go back to normal at the Dartford Crossing within five years of construction.
It's after Rachel Reeves has given her backing to a new £9 billion road crossing between Kent and Essex calling it an "important project".
The Chancellor added the Treasury is "exploring options" for it to be privately financed.
Ms Reeves' announcement comes just three months after the government said it was delaying the decision on whether to go ahead with the project until May 2025.
Preparatory work on the scheme has been ongoing since 2009, and hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money has been spent on planning.
The Lower Thames Crossing proposal is aimed at reducing congestion on the Dartford Crossing with a motorway-style road.
It would connect the A2 and M2 in Kent to the A13 and M25 in Essex through a 2.6-mile tunnel under the Thames, which would be the UK's longest road tunnel.
National Highways says the plan will almost double road capacity across the Thames east of London, describing it as "our most ambitious scheme in 35 years".
However the Thames Crossing Action Group has said the new crossing will "destroy" the green belt and people's health, and that Ms Reeves' announcement does not constitute a green light for the project.
"She said they were 'exploring' private finance. Funding has not been secured for LTC, and the DCO Development Consent Order has not been approved," the group wrote on X.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is expected to make a final decision on whether to approve National Highways' application for a development consent order to build the scheme by May 23.
One member of the Thames Crossing Action Group, Alex Hills, told Greatest Hits Radio:
"Within five years of the Lower Thames Crossing opening the traffic at the Dartford Crossing will be back to what it's like now.
"There's been lots of false claims made about how green the road will be, there is no such thing as a green road.
"It'll breach the government's own targets on reducing pollution.
"The simple fact is if you want to increase congestion you build more roads, if you want to reduce congestion and boost economic growth you invest in rail" says Mr Hills.
The Lower Thames Crossing is aiming to start construction in 2026, with the road opening in 2032.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "Any regular user of the Dartford tunnels and bridge knows just how badly the Lower Thames Crossing is needed.
"Given there was always an expectation of the new crossing being tolled, the search for a private financier to help meet the construction costs is not surprising."
In a speech on growth in Oxfordshire, Ms Reeves said: "We will work with the private sector to deliver the infrastructure that our country desperately needs.
"This includes the Lower Thames Crossing, which will improve connectivity at Dover, Felixstowe and Harwich, alleviating severe congestion, as goods destined to export come from the North and the Midlands and across the country to markets overseas.
"To drive growth and deliver value for money for taxpayers, we are exploring options to privately finance this important project."
Road Haulage Association managing director Richard Smith said this was "a major victory for our sector" and claimed the "nationally significant scheme has the potential to turbocharge the economy".
He added: "After many years of delays in giving LTC the green light, today's announcement will be a welcome relief to operators of lorries, coaches, and vans who must navigate the daily knock-on economic impact of persistent delays."
Thurrock Council in Essex has consistently opposed the project, citing negative economic, social and environmental impacts, but the leader of Kent's Dartford Borough Council is in favour of it.
Thurrock Cllr Lee Watson, Cabinet Member for Good Growth, said: “We welcome this morning’s growth announcement made by the Chancellor, as it is vital that we do all we can to get the growth our country so badly needs.
“For us, here in Thurrock, we heard little that changes the situation with the proposed new Lower Thames Crossing.
“Planning consent hasn’t yet been given and Thurrock Council remains opposed to this crossing. We still believe, as we always have, that it would not resolve the very real problems caused by congestion at the Dartford Crossings, it would cause huge damage to our environment and ecology as well as doing little to add to the resilience of our local road network.”
“We will be writing to the Chancellor to reiterate our views and the views of Thurrock’s residents.”
Responding to Ms Reeves's comments, campaign group Transport Action Network said: "Exploring options for privately financing the LTC does nothing to address its fundamental flaws: generating ever more traffic and harmful emissions, devastating the market for international rail freight, and damaging the competitiveness of our seaports north of the Thames.
"With tolls at Dartford and the LTC set to be equalised, they will inevitably rise even higher to pay back investors."
The extended deadline of 23 May remains for a decision to be made on the DCO application.