Supplementary Consultation 2020 now open

Lower Thames Crossing - Supplementary Consultation now open

23 January 2020

Eight week consultation on Lower Thames Crossing begins

The supplementary consultation into Highways England’s proposed Lower Thames Crossing is now open.

The consultation will give people the chance to have their say on latest changes to the project that have been made after detailed analysis of the 29,000 responses received during the last consultation held in 2018, and new technical information becoming available following surveys and ground investigations.

The eight-week consultation began today (00:01 29 January) and will end at 23:59 on 25 March.

Have your say - take part in the supplementary consultation

Summary of changes

Property and landowners

We have revised the development boundary as a result of the design changes, proposed utility diversions and additional land required for environmental mitigation.

Facilities for walking, cycling and horse riding

We have developed a detailed set of proposals for maintaining, improving and upgrading the walking, cycling and horse-riding network in the vicinity of the project.

Environmental impact

As a result of our proposed design changes to the route, revised development boundary and utility diversions, we have set out our current understanding of how these affect the information that was presented in our 2018 Preliminary Environmental Information Report.

Utilities

The volume of utility diversions we are planning has increased. Therefore, we have progressed our plans to divert utilities in a way that is necessary to build the Lower Thames Crossing safely, protect existing supplies and enable future maintenance.

Building and using the Lower Thames Crossing

We have progressed our plans for how we will build the scheme.
We have updated elements of our traffic model as part of our ongoing work to prepare for our Development Consent Order application.

Key changes to the design of the road

Following feedback from our statutory consultation, we have looked at the junction configuration. We have provided more direct connectivity between Gravesend and the M2/A2 eastbound, and redesigned the Gravesend East junction and link roads to improve journey times.

We have moved the entrance 350 metres to the south to reduce the impact on the Thames Estuary and Marshes Ramsar site.

After further investigation and consideration of the feedback from statutory consultation, we have decided not to progress with the rest and service area. We have relocated the maintenance depot to existing Highways England facilities, which means the junction at Tilbury is no longer required.

We have moved the route approximately 60 metres north-east to avoid the need for major overhead cable diversion works.

We have redesigned some slip roads at the junction between the Lower Thames Crossing, A13, A1089 and A1013 to reduce the visual impact, move roads away from properties, and improve safety and connectivity at the junctions.

We have removed one lane southbound between the M25 and A13 junction to reduce the route’s impact, while still providing sufficient long-term vehicle capacity.

We have changed the structures over the Mardyke River, Golden Bridge Sewer and the Orsett Fen Sewer to reduce the visual impact and the volume of flood compensation needed. The route has moved approximately 200 metres south-west to reduce the work required to move an existing gas main. It also reduces the impact on a nearby landfill site.

We have redesigned the southbound link from the M25 to the Lower Thames Crossing to avoid demolition and reconstruction of the existing Ockendon Road bridge over the M25.

How to have your say

Please only use the following official response channels. We cannot guarantee that responses sent to any other address will be included in our analysis.

Online response form

Fill in the online survey at:
www.lowerthamescrossing.co.uk/consultation-2020
(This link will be accessible from 29/01/2020 at 00:01)

Freepost

Post your response form or comments to:
FREEPOST LTC CONSULTATION
(The Freepost address is the only text needed on the envelope, and no stamp is required.)

Email

Email your comments to:
ltc.consultation@traverse.ltd

Events

Drop a copy of the response form into any of our consultation events.

(See event list below)

Our consultation events

Public and mobile information events

You can find out more at one of our public information or mobile information events listed below, these events give you the opportunity to meet the team and ask them questions (see the map below).

Deposit locations – CLOSED 24/03/2020

You can pick up a copy of the guide and response form, as well as view other consultation documents including Map Books, the Traffic Modelling Update, Utilities Update and the Environmental Impacts Update, plus an Easy Read version of the guide at our deposit locations (see the map below).

Information points – CLOSED 24/04/2020

Our Guide to Supplementary Consultation contains further information about the proposed changes to the Lower Thames Crossing.

You can pick up copies of the Guide to Supplementary Consultation and the response form from one of our information points (see the map below).

Public information events

Address	Location	Date	Time
Cascades Leisure Centre, Thong Lane, Gravesend, DA12 4LG	South of the River Thames	27/02/2020	2pm-8pm
Gravesham Civic Centre, Windmill Street, Gravesend, DA12 1AU	South of the River Thames	14/03/2020	midday-6pm
Civic Hall, Blackshots Lane, Grays, RM16 2JU	North of the River Thames	21/02/2020	2pm-8pm
New Windmill Hall, St Mary’s Lane, Upminster, RM14 2QH	North of the River Thames	22/02/2020	midday-6pm
East Tilbury Village Hall, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, Essex, RM18 8RB	North of the River Thames	03/03/2020	2pm-8pm
Orsett Hall Hotel, Prince Charles Avenue, Orsett, RM16 3HS	North of the River Thames	09/03/2020	2pm-8pm
Linford Methodist Church, East Tilbury Road, Linford, SS17 0QS	North of the River Thames	11/03/2020	2pm-8pm
CANCELLED – Brandon Groves Community Club, Brandon Groves Avenue, South Ockendon, RM15 6TD	North of the River Thames	17/03/2020	2pm-8pm

Mobile information events

Address	Location	Date	Time
Cascades Leisure Centre, Thong Lane, Gravesend, DA12 4LG	South of the River Thames	27/02/2020	2pm-8pm
Gravesham Civic Centre, Windmill Street, Gravesend, DA12 1AU	South of the River Thames	14/03/2020	midday-6pm
Civic Hall, Blackshots Lane, Grays, RM16 2JU	North of the River Thames	21/02/2020	2pm-8pm
New Windmill Hall, St Mary’s Lane, Upminster, RM14 2QH	North of the River Thames	22/02/2020	midday-6pm
East Tilbury Village Hall, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, Essex, RM18 8RB	North of the River Thames	03/03/2020	2pm-8pm
Orsett Hall Hotel, Prince Charles Avenue, Orsett, RM16 3HS	North of the River Thames	09/03/2020	2pm-8pm
Linford Methodist Church, East Tilbury Road, Linford, SS17 0QS	North of the River Thames	11/03/2020	2pm-8pm
CANCELLED – Brandon Groves Community Club, Brandon Groves Avenue, South Ockendon, RM15 6TD	North of the River Thames	17/03/2020	2pm-8pm

Deposit locations – CLOSED 24/03/2020

Address	Location
Brentwood Library, Brentwood, CM14 4BP	North of the River Thames
Dartford Central Library, Dartford, DA1 1EU	South of the River Thames
Gravesend Library, Gravesend, DA12 1BE	South of the River Thames
Grays Library, Grays, RM17 5DX	North of the River Thames
Maidstone Library, Maidstone, ME14 1LQ	South of the River Thames
Rochester Library, Rochester, ME1 1EW	South of the River Thames
Romford Central Library, Romford, RM1 3AR	North of the River Thames
Tilbury Hub, Tilbury, RM18 8AD	North of the River Thames

Information points – CLOSED 24/03/2020

Address	Location
Belhus Library, South Ockendon, RM15 5DX	North of the River Thames
Blackshots Library, Grays, RM16 2JU	North of the River Thames
Chadwell Library, Chadwell St Mary, RM16 4JP	North of the River Thames
East Tilbury Library, East Tilbury, RM18 8ST	North of the River Thames
Marling Cross Library, Gravesend, DA12 5TY	South of the River Thames
Meopham Library, Meopham, DA13 0AH	South of the River Thames
Riverview Park Library, Gravesend, DA12 4NG	South of the River Thames
Shorne Woods Country Park Visitor Centre, Shorne, DA12 3HX	South of the River Thames
Thurrock Council Civic Offices, Grays, RM17 6SL	North of the River Thames
Upminster Library, Upminster, RM14 2BB	North of the River Thames