Perry Glading
23 March 2016
Perry Glading, Chief Operating Officer, Forth Ports Ltd (owner of the Port of Tilbury)makes case for Lower Thames Crossing and additional junction.
Just like Heathrow Terminal 5, the Lower Thames Crossing and its stop-start progress through the corridors of power has, in part, contributed to the creation of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC).
The sentiment that “something’s just got to be done,” is driving the NIC and the business support for the Lower Thames Crossing.
The proposed tunnel and road linking Kent and Essex are desperately needed as the scheme seeks to alleviate a severe bottleneck on a critical international business transport corridor.
On average, the existing Dartford Crossing handles more than 140,000 vehicles each day, with 50% of them being freight vehicles.
By anyone’s estimation, it’s busy. In fact, the crossing is operating at 108% of its design capacity and projections by the Department for Transport estimate traffic will grow by 41% over the next 20 years.
That volume of traffic is not without incident. The crossing is one of the least reliable sections of the UK’s strategic road network, with double the national average accident rate. Freight operators and the public alike face congestion, traffic incidents and closures almost every day, with significant cost and time implications.
With so much trade coming through the current Dartford-Thurrock crossing point, the UK needs to future proof itself to provide for greater national resilience and radically improve productivity.
On 26 January, with ministerial backing and the best part of a five year Parliament ahead, Highways England went out to consultation on its preferred solution – a dual carriageway connecting junction 1 of the M2 to the M25 between junctions 29 and 30. The tunnel crosses under the River Thames just east of the towns of Gravesend and Tilbury (option C). Alongside the preferred route, the consultation considers two other routes north of the river at option C and two routes south of the river.
As a result of its success and growth, the Port of Tilbury is adding to this traffic problem.
London and the South East are booming. Consumer confidence is fuelling demand for construction materials and finished goods, while a drive to streamline supply chains is supporting substantial growth at London’s major port.
In response, the Port of Tilbury is expanding rapidly, with one large scale port estate extension being built out and another two taking shape.
Business has doubled in the last 15 years and is projected to double again by 2030, with a threefold increase in direct employment.
With 18 million people within 75 miles of the port and Greater London set to grow significantly over the next 15 years, the current 8,500 daily vehicle movements will expand rapidly over the same period.
When combined with the road-based traffic growth at the Channel, Medway and other Thames ports, the case for the Lower Thames Crossing could not be stronger.
Until 24 March, businesses, community groups and individuals have the opportunity to shape HE's strategic approach.
For south Essex, this means working to ensure the area extracts maximum benefit from the scheme. Thurrock only has to look at HS1 to realise that large-scale public investment can happen on your doorstep without the area capitalising on the full economic development opportunity.
The port has a clear approach. Tilbury supports option C, but with the proviso that the proposed crossing and new road through Thurrock provides a step-change in the connectivity to-and-from the port and improves key strategic roads like the A13 and A1089.
Whichever option C route is finally chosen (2, 3 or 4), the port calls for the inclusion of an all moves junction east of Tilbury with a direct link to the Port of Tilbury area.
The additional junction is vital to:
- improve connectivity to the current port estate and our new 152-acre port facility at the former Tilbury Power Station site, Tilbury 2
- provide much needed operational resilience to the port’s operations, with associated relief for the local road network, including residential areas
- open up north Kent to the substantial employment opportunities at the port (circa 5,500 direct roles in the next five years alone), and
- develop better access to the trading hubs in the Midlands, northern Europe and the South East.
As Andrew Adonis said recently for the UK not to get on and realise the full economic benefits of expanding aviation capacity in the South East would be a national tragedy. The same could be said for failing to deliver a consented Lower Thames Crossing this Parliament.
It is unlikely that Westminster tube station will be plastered with posters pressing the case for the new tunnel and road, but be under no illusion that this infrastructure project is of national strategic importance and should be built.
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