The £10bn project has now cleared planning, but it has yet to secure the necessary funding, with the government currently exploring private finance options.
National Highways says that it has “set out a number of viable funding options for the project ” and expects a final decision on which model is taken forward to be made by the Treasury “shortly”.
The Lower Thames Crossing is a new 14-mile trunk road that will link the A2 in Kent with the A13 and M25 in Essex, through the longest road tunnel in the UK.
The application was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration by National Highways on 31st October 2022, which then made its recommendations to the secretary of state on 20th March 2024.
A reported £1.2bn has been spent on the project just getting it through planning. Even though the government has yet approve funding for it, pending the review of private finance options, National Highways is continue to work up its plans. Over the coming months its plans to carry out archaeological, ecological, and topographical surveys, as well as further ground investigations to prepare the detailed design and construction plans.
Matt Palmer, National Highways’ executive director for Lower Thames Crossing, said: “The Lower Thames Crossing is one of the UK’s most important infrastructure projects. It will unlock growth with quicker, safer, and more reliable journeys and redraw the blueprint for building major projects in a net zero future by scaling up the use low-carbon construction, and leaving a legacy of green spaces, green skills.
“Our plans have been shaped by the local community and refined by robust and rigorous examination from independent experts. We are more committed than ever to working with our neighbours to build the crossing in a way that offers them opportunities to work and learn new skills while reducing impacts. We are shovel ready and have our delivery partners on board, and today’s decision allows us to work with government on funding and start the detailed planning that will let us start construction as soon as possible.”
Civil Engineering Contractors Association operations director Marie-Claude Hemming said: “This is an important milestone in the journey towards delivering a scheme that, once built, will add billions to the UK economy. The Lower Thames Crossing will not only drive economic growth and create jobs but will tackle the severe pinch-point at Dartford that is costing the UK up to £200 million a year.
“Now that the scheme has planning approval we call on the UK government to swiftly make a decision as to how it will be funded – whether through the use of private finance or otherwise. For the full benefits of the scheme to be realised as soon as possible it is vital that industry can get spades in the ground without further delay, so that industry can deliver a project that will not only benefit businesses and communities across the south of England, but will be a driver of growth in the UK economy as a whole.”
There are still arguments about the financial viability of the project, however, which some believe could deter private finance.
Professor Phil Goodwin, emeritus professor of transport policy at University College London and the University of the West of England, told the Financial Times last August: “I was closely involved in the ‘public examination’ of National Highways’ proposed Lower Thames Crossing and there are many unanswered questions as to its viability. Despite thousands of pages of evidence, National Highways declined to produce updated value for money figures as to the uncertainty around long-term traffic scenarios, as was required by Department for Transport 2022 guidelines. This, and other calculations, were challenged, but we still had serious questions as to whether the scheme would pass investors’ due diligence, without the public purse providing major guarantees. Private funding does not turn a bad scheme into a good one, and the case for this one did not stack up.”
