PRESS RELEASE

Transport Action Network (TAN) welcomes the news that the National Audit Office (NAO) has agreed to TAN’s request for an investigation into the privatised Lower Thames Crossing (LTC)¹.

TAN has been raising the alarm about the financial irregularities with the LTC for some time, and wrote to the NAO in March and June this year². On 6 July the NAO confirmed to TAN that it would “examine and report on” the LTC, acknowledging it is of “high parliamentary and public interest”³.

TAN’s concerns about the LTC include:

• LTC’s cost keeps increasing, and is now up to £11bn⁴ with an extra £174m awarded in secret, after the “final tranche” in the Autumn Budget 2025⁵
• The LTC will be privatised, along with the Dartford Crossings, with valuable toll revenues lost to the exchequer
• Over £3 billion of public funds is being used to subsidise the project⁶, but the final total could be more depending on the terms negotiated with investors
• However, a business case has not been completed for this mega-project, breaking Treasury rules

TAN is concerned however that the investigation needs to happen soon to avoid billions of public funds being wasted, and has written again to the NAO to stress the urgency⁷.

Abby Coften, TAN’s Chief Executive, said:

“We’re pleased the NAO agrees with us that the privatised Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) needs investigating. However, this must be fast tracked before more public funds are wasted. The same mistakes are being made as on HS2, but worse as LTC costs more per mile and has no completed business case. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money are being spent for just 5 years relief at Dartford. Meanwhile the toll revenues at LTC and Dartford will be gifted to private investors, and lost to the exchequer. It’s time to give the LTC the red card.”

ENDS

Notes for editors

1. UK’s public spending watchdog to investigate Lower Thames Crossing project, The Guardian, 12 July 2026 ↩︎
2. TAN wrote to the NAO on 11 March 2026 outlining our concerns about the LTC. The NAO at first declined to investigate. However, we wrote again on 26 June, presenting further evidence of an unannounced, additional £174 million funding, after the “final tranche” in Autumn Budget 2025. We had also discovered, via FOI, that LTC was proceeding with no completed business case in place. ↩︎
3. Letter from Comptroller and Auditor General of NAO to TAN, 6 July 2026 ↩︎
4. Lower Thames Crossing spiralling costs: 17% increase in just 9 months, TAN press release, 3 December 2025 ↩︎
5. Extra £174m earmarked for ‘spiralling’ bill for Lower Thames Crossing, The Guardian, 8 June 2026 ↩︎
6. Taxpayers to contribute more than £3bn to Lower Thames Crossing, Financial Times, 3 December 2025 ↩︎
7. TAN letter to NAO stressing urgency, 8 July 2026 ↩︎

For more information about the LTC, see TAN’s website