Lower Thames Crossing: 'Spades in the ground by the end of the year' says MP

Following the approval of the Lower Thames Crossing, an MP has told us he's 'very confident that spades will be in the ground by the end of the year'.

Yesterday, Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, granted a development consent for the tunnel that will connect Kent and Essex.

It will be approximately 14.5 miles (23km) in length, and will connect to the existing road network from the A2/M2 to the M25 with two tunnels running beneath the River Thames.

And the MP for Dartford, Jim Dickson, welcomed the move, he said: "We will now have two crossings, rather than one that doesn't work and is massively overcapacity.

"This means traffic will now be distributed, the big lorries looking to get their goods across to the continent via Dover will have somewhere else to go, businesses will relocated across the estuary and 22,000 jobs will be created.

"It's also a green project too. There's lots of environmental mitigation, trees are coming down but one million new ones are being planted and news habitas will be created as well."

As for the next steps, Dickson said: "The treasury are working on a funding package which I fully support so we will hope for an announcement on that in due course.

"And i'm very confident that we will see spades in the ground by 2025, with serious work starting in 2026 and through the rest of the decade."

However, campaigners disagree believing the Lower Thames Crossing will solve none of the current problems at the Dartford Crossing.

Alex Hills is from the Lower Thames Crossing Action group, and he said: "I'm in disbelief, it will not meet one of it's objectives and offers appalling value for money.

"How can the government justify spending £10 to £20 billion on this project when the sick and disabled are having their benefits cut, the elderly have had their winter fuel payments cut, and services like the NHS are on it's knees."

Construction on the road is expected to start in 2026 or early 2027 ahead of a planned opening by 2032.

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