£10bn Lower Thames Crossing greenlit after £300m planning application that ran 250 times as long as War and Peace
25 March 2025, 11:25 | Updated: 25 March 2025, 12:54
A crossing under the Thames to the east of London has finally been given the go-ahead after years spent in planning application limbo.
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Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander approved a development consent order application by National Highways for the 14.5-mile Lower Thames Crossing, part of which would form the UK's longest road tunnel.
Work on the project has been ongoing since 2009, and around £1 billion of taxpayers' money has been spent on planning.
That included nearly £300 million on the application alone, which stretched to over 350,000 pages - 250 times as long as War and Peace, the famous Tolstoy epic. The application would stretch to 66 miles if laid out end-to-end, nearly five times as long as the road itself.
One pro-building onlooker said the application was "symbolic of what is wrong with our planning system."
Sam Richards, of the group Britain Remade, said "the size of the application is insane and totally unjustifiable by any sensible person".
He told the Times that "currently it’s simply far too difficult and takes far too long to get anything built in Britain."
The application finally getting approved will be seen by some as a victory for Keir Starmer's government, which has called itself pro-growth and vowed to take on the "blockers" clogging up the planning system with objections.
Then-Transport Secretary Louise Haigh told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast last year that the delays to the project were "shocking".
"It shouldn't take as long as it does or cost as much money as it does to get to that stage," she added.
The Lower Thames Crossing is aimed at reducing congestion on the Dartford Crossing and the M25 with a new motorway-style road.
It would connect the A2 and M2 in Kent to the A13 and M25 in Essex via a 2.6-mile tunnel under the Thames.
National Highways previously said the plan will almost double road capacity across the Thames east of London, describing it as "our most ambitious scheme in 35 years".
It is likely to be a key route for freight and logistics drivers moving between the south-east and the Midlands.
Construction is likely to start next year 2026, with the road opening in 2032.
Costs have ballooned since 2018, when the overall outlay was estimated at £6 billion. The road is likely to be funded by the private sector, the FT reported.
Jim Dickson, the Labour MP for Dartford, hailed the decision by Ms Alexander and said it would have a beneficial impact on local residents as well as freight drivers.
He said: “For far too long governments have dodged making a decision on the Lower Thames Crossing leaving Dartford residents to endure endless gridlock.
“Now under this Labour Government, the new crossing has finally received the green light and will be built.
“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.”
