PRESS RELEASE

Major report proposes cheaper ‘Essex-Kent Superlinks’ as public transport alternatives to unaffordable Lower Thames Crossing

Transport Action Network (TAN) has today published a major report on ‘High capacity alternatives to a road-based Lower Thames Crossing’ recommending scrapping the £10 billion proposed new road in favour of public transport and rail freight investments requiring around £2.5 billion.

The launch event for the report at the Local Government Association in Westminster was supported by train drivers’ union ASLEF.

Produced by Jonathan Roberts Consulting, the ‘Roberts Report’ was commissioned by TAN after learning that other options for crossing the Thames near Dartford had never been properly explored and were dismissed on the flimsiest of reasons in 2009.

Branded as ‘Essex-Kent Superlinks’, the package of alternative measures proposed includes:

• A new rail link connecting north and south of the Thames Estuary between West Thurrock in Essex and Dartford and Greenhithe in Kent, enabling 50-100 million passenger journeys annually;
   
• A series of modest investments in the rail network to boost the competitiveness of freight trains and, in particular, enhance access for freight trains serving major ports and the Channel Tunnel, removing up to 550,000 – 1,100,000 HGVs off our roads every year;
   
• Support for the KenEx tram already proposed to link Grays in Essex with Ebbsfleet International in Kent; and
   
• Potential new ferry and associated connections between Grays, Greenhithe and Bluewater as well as Tilbury and Gravesend.

TAN Founder and Director Chris Todd said:
“We’re calling on the UK Government to smash the cosy consensus on how to connect Essex with Kent and the Channel Ports with the Midlands and beyond.

“Every time this subject comes up, the bureaucracy of the British state produces the same tired old answer – a massive and vastly expensive new road. It’s time for the new Government to put that nonsense in the shredder. They should promote solutions addressing the needs of working people in the twenty-first century rather than forcing upon them a scheme rooted in the thinking of the 1970s.

“It’s a scandal that, for one of the most important transport connections in the UK, no serious exploration of alternatives has ever been undertaken until now.  We’ve filled that gap and done the Government’s disruptive thinking for them.  We call on Parliament to demand that Ministers evaluate the alternatives properly before authorising the Lower Thames Crossing or agreeing to what would undoubtedly be an exorbitant private finance model. Either way it would cost taxpayers across the UK dearly.”

Simon Weller, Assistant General Secretary of ASLEF, said:
“Rail freight already has to compete on an unlevel playing field.  The Lower Thames Crossing will tilt the advantage even further in favour of road trucking and, in particular, provide easier access to key UK markets for foreign hauliers via the Port of Dover.  The Roberts Report shows that, for a fraction of the cost of the proposed road, the UK can make our rail freight operators more competitive on domestic and international routes while transforming the public transport landscape for journeys across the Thames Estuary.”

 – ENDS –

Notes for Editors

1. The Development Consent Order for the Lower Thames Crossing is due to be decided by 23 May 2025.  More information may be found here:  https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/campaign/lower-thames-crossing/
    
2. The Roberts Report may be downloaded here: https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/LTC-Roberts-Report-web.pdf  
   TAN’s summary of the Roberts Report – Essex-Kent Superlinks – may be downloaded here:
   https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/TAN-Essex-Kent-Superlinks-web.pdf
    
3. TAN’s submission to the Secretary of State for Transport on cancelling the entire Conservatives’ new roads programme may be viewed here: https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/TAN-Report-iPDF.pdf.
    
4. TAN was set up in 2019 by director Chris Todd to help communities press for better (and more sustainable) transport.  It supports more investment in bus and rail services and active travel.  To enable this and better roads maintenance (fewer potholes) it continues to oppose the previous Government’s damaging roads programme.  It also supports better integration between transport and planning.