The latest (and perhaps final) LTC consultation has less than a week to run – here’s a step-by-step guide


Time is running short if you’re planning on taking part in what might be the final consultation on the proposed Lower Thames Crossing.
The Local Refinement Consultation set up by National Highways concludes at 11.59pm on Monday, June 20.
We highly recommend submitting your views as the more responses received by NH the better.
Our friends at the Thames Crossing Action Group say: “You can of course respond using the National Highways consultation response form, but please bear in mind that NH have designed the form to get the answers/feedback they want.
“If you do use it, please read the wording carefully!”
TCAG suggests instead giving your views either via email or post, highlighting that “you don’t have to use the response form”.
The matter is of course complex and if you would like a helping hand you might be interested in TCAG’s step-by-step guide to the consultation. You can see that here
CPRE Kent believes there are many problems with the crossing proposals and it is disappointing that the NH consultation does not address any of them.

Those issues include:

  1. The A2 is to be reduced to two lanes both London- and coastbound – four lanes already at full capacity during commuter hours.
  2. The Lower Thames Crossing is the wrong solution at the wrong location. On completion – in 2030! – the misery of the Dartford crossing will continue. Will lorries prefer this shorter northerly route, saving them fuel costs? It is predicted that the LTC will only reduce the Dartford crossing traffic by some 4 per cent.
  3. Congestion at Dartford should be addressed without further delay. It is caused by the ‘stopping’ of all traffic in order to escort large tankers and many European lorries through the obsolete tunnels. This is effectively a red traffic light on the M25 causing ‘domino accidents’. The LTC does not resolve this problem.
  4. The decision to build LTC was based on the promise of private funding. It is now to be publicly funded at a cost of £8.2 billion and rising. The Queen Elizabeth Bridge cost £120 million in 1991 (Highways England, now National Highways, rejected a relatively small cost of installing ‘wind supports’ as those installed in most bridges). This would not equate to £8.2 billion, even with inflation.
  5. The LTC is being planned as an all lanes running expressway – a smart motorway by another name. This means no hard shoulder and as yet no reliable danger-detection system.
  • You can order a consultation pack here (alternatively phone 0300 123 5000 or email info@lowerthamescrossing.co.uk)
  • The National Highways dedicated LTC web page is here
  • For more on the LTC, see here
  • To read CPRE Kent’s response to the spring 2020 LTC consultation, click here
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