Britain’s biggest road scheme has been given the green light by the government – 16 years after work on the £9bn crossing began.
The Planning Inspectorate said the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) – a 14.5-mile project stretching from Kent to Essex – was approved by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander on Tuesday.
It would connect the A2 and M2 near Strood to the A13 and M25 near Upminster via a 2.6-mile tunnel under the River Thames.
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Aimed at reducing congestion on the Dartford Crossing, the LTC would be the UK’s longest road tunnel and would nearly double road capacity east of London.
National Highways said after its development consent order was approved that it was “currently exploring private finance options for the project”.
Construction could start as early as next year, with the new road expected to open early next decade.
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Work on the road scheme has been ongoing since 2009. Despite no construction being carried out in that time, £1.2bn has been spent, with the planning document running to 359,070 pages.
Sir Keir Starmer said on X after the announcement: “When I said I would back the builders, not the blockers, I meant it.”
Jim Dickson, Labour MP for Dartford, also said that his constituency has had “endless gridlock” because previous governments “dodged” approving the project.
He added: “This decision will unlock economic growth across the country and finally deliver a solution to the traffic chaos faced by my constituents on a daily basis.”
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Thurrock Council in Essex has consistently opposed the project over economic, social and environmental concerns, and local campaigners Thames Crossing Action Group claimed construction would cause “eight years of disruption and gridlock on local roads”.
Director of the group, Chris Todd, said: “This is absolute madness. It’s a desperate decision to distract from the likely bad news in the Chancellor’s Spring Statement tomorrow.”
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The prime minister’s spokesperson also said that the government will “be looking at all funding options including private fiance and any final decisions on that will be taken in due course”.
National Highways revealed in a Freedom of Information request last year that £295m had been spent on the application process for the LTC.
Pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade noted that the cost of the planning fee alone is more than twice the amount it took Norway to build the longest road tunnel in the world.
Sam Dumitriu, the thinktank’s head of policy, said the Laerdal tunnel connecting Oslo and Bergen only cost £140m, adjusted for inflation.
