The decision on whether to scrap the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing scheme between Kent and Essex has been delayed until May 2025, the Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed.
It said it needed “more time for the application to be considered” as part of a series of broader spending reviews around transport infrastructure that have been taking place since the Labour Party took power in July.
In September, campaigners urged the government to cancel £10.5bn in road projects and use the money to fund new rail and public transport projects.
Around £9bn of this was earmarked for the Lower Thames Crossing, with the remaining £1.5bn being saved by cutting the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine scheme.
First proposed in the late 2000s, the crossing is designed to relieve the pressure on the existing A282 Dartford Crossing.
But the Campaign for Better Transport recently argued that rather than basing the need for new road schemes on increasing capacity for heavy goods vehicles, the government should instead invest in rail freight upgrades as an alternative to road building which would free up existing road space “for a fraction of the cost”.
The proposed route would connect the M25 motorway and A13 north of the river to the M2 motorway south of the river. If built, the crossing would have the longest road tunnel in the UK at 2.6 miles.
Transport secretary Louise Haigh announced the delay to the final decision in a written statement to Parliament, but did not go into further detail about the considerations her department were making over whether to approve or not.
The Transport Action Network (TAN) has welcomed the delay but continued to urge Haigh to scrap the crossing altogether.
“We hope Louise Haigh will use this breathing space to fully engage with the concerns about this outdated project,” said Chris Todd, TAN’s director.
“It fails on all its objectives and would provide only five years’ relief at Dartford, less time than it would take to build. Proceeding with it would be madness. The £9bn price tag is just the tip of the iceberg as National Highways has hidden the true costs of a deliverable scheme, which is already more expensive per mile than HS2. Even then it undermines all five of Labour’s missions and ambitions to move freight onto rail, improve public transport and protect nature.”
