Thames crossing planning process racks up £1 billion bill -even before decision made to go forward with project
8 October 2024, 09:30
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh has told LBC that a plan to build a new crossing under the Thames has already cost £1 billion before the decision on whether to go ahead with the project is made.
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She told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that the significant amount of money already spent on the project shows why planning processes need to "radically change."
Asked by Nick how much money had already been spent on the project, she said: "It is about one billion pounds. Which is just shocking to get a project to the stage where it can apply for permission to be built.
"That's one of the reasons why we've set out that we want to radically change the way our planning and infrastructure works, because it shouldn't take as long as it does or cost as much money as it does to get to that stage."
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On Monday, the Government delayed a decision on whether to go ahead with the new £9 billion road crossing between Kent and Essex until May 2025.
The Transport Secretary said that doesn't mean the decision could not come sooner. She also explained that it did not "feel right" to make the decision before the spending review.
She said: "The deadline has been extended. That doesn't mean the decision won't be made until then. You'll appreciate it's a quasi-judicial decision as it's a development consent order that I have to decide on. And in order to do that, I have to have confidence that the funding will be made available.
"So I didn't feel it was right to do that this side of the spending review. Once those decisions have been made, then the DCO decision can be made, but it will be made in the proper way."
The initial deadline for a decision on whether to grant a development consent order enabling National Highways to build the 14.3-mile road was initially scheduled for June 20, but was delayed until October 4 because of the general election.
Work on the project has been ongoing since 2009.
It comes amid an ongoing row about the length of time it takes for some housing projects and major infrastructure schemes to get planning permission.
Some campaigners have identified planning as a significant hurdle Britain needs to overcome in order to kickstart productivity and growth.
Labour have vowed to reform the planning system to help Britain build faster.
