Capital Economy, Business and Finance
The Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) – a £9 billion road tunnel between Essex and Kent – was one of the projects put on pause when Rishi Sunak called a UK general election. A final decision on the crossing was delayed until this October, but there are calls for Labour to decide on vital infrastructure projects swiftly after entering office.
Even if planning was approved tomorrow, the tunnel wouldn’t open until at least 2031. The LTC is already the UK’s biggest planning application ever (spanning 350,000+ pages); plans have been in motion since 2009 and have cost upwards of £300 million.
The LTC’s delays to date are emblematic of a broken planning system and Britain’s dithering over investment in long-term infrastructure projects (see also: HS2).
The current east Thames crossing at Dartford relies partially on 60-year-old infrastructure, can’t be opened fully in high winds, and is often the cause of miles-long tailbacks on Britain’s busiest motorway, the M25.
Since the LTC decision was delayed in May, the landscape has already changed. Plans for the London Resort theme park – which would have sat close to the Kent side of the tunnel – were all but abandoned recently when the land it was earmarked for was put up for sale.
The London Resort (and the extra road traffic it would bring) was a factor in the planning for the LTC. Now the application is already out of date.
It presents a number of early quandaries for the government:
- Labour didn’t mention the tunnel in its manifesto, but it did mention making “the changes we need to forge ahead with new roads.”
- Large infrastructure projects create jobs and promote economic growth in the long term, but they also cost a lot of money in the short term.
- Supporting car-focused infrastructure is still vital in current-day Britain, but it also damages Labour’s climate credentials.
Labour has made a big fuss about growing the economy and reforming planning. If the party wants a bullseye to aim at, it needn’t look too far up the Thames.
