PRESS RELEASE

Opening of privatised Lower Thames Crossing motorway delayed to 2034

Transport Action Network (TAN) has reacted to the news that the £11bn Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) motorway:

• Will be fully privatised
• Opening has slipped from 2032 to 2034 (despite no legal challenges)
• Will proceed before it is known if it is good value for taxpayers (as a Full Business Case won’t be produced until 2028)
• Will continue to drain public money from rail schemes across England which are being cancelled

These facts were published in a letter¹ announcing that Department for Transport (DfT) Director Kate Cohen has taken over the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) role for the LTC from National Highways². It confirms that part of her role will be to arrange the sale of the six-lane LTC to the private entity which will own and operate the new motorway and the existing state-owned Dartford Crossings, collecting the revenues from user charges in perpetuity.

The Financial Times³ reported on 3 December that the cost of the LTC has jumped 17% to £11bn in just 9 months, with taxpayers contributing £3bn. Meanwhile the private investment needed has risen from £6.3bn to £7.5bn, up 19%⁴. These cost increases will lead to significantly higher tolls at Dartford and the LTC, as TAN has previously predicted⁵.

Chris Todd Director of TAN, said:

“Will private investors see the Lower Thames Crossing as Christmas come early with its gift of £3bn of public funding? Or will they see it for the turkey it really is?

“The government clearly has not learnt lessons from previous failed PFI projects that have cost taxpayers dearly and seems determined to press ahead regardless. Dartford tolls have already risen 40% and are only going to go up with project costs going through the roof.

“All this for a road that will cause seven years of construction chaos for only five years relief at Dartford. It’s time Labour pulled the plug before it’s too late. It is taking much needed funding away from better value rail projects around the country.

“Ministers are telling us that renationalisation of the railways is good for passengers and taxpayers while doing the exact opposite with the country’s biggest road project. Labour will let the privateers extract profit from the existing Dartford Crossings and the new LTC by fleecing users for generations to come.”

– ENDS –

Notes for editors

1. The DfT has published a letter from DfT’s Permanent Secretary to DfT Director, Kate Cohen, appointing her as the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for the LTC:
   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dft-major-projects-appointment-letters-for-senior-responsible-owners/lower-thames-crossing-sro-appointment-letter.
   
   The letter states “You are required to undertake this role until the end of the project planned for 2034, or until the responsibility is transferred”. The previous target opening date was 2032 (as reported on the LTC page on National Highways website).
   
   It also states that one of the SRO’s “objectives and performance criteria” is to “deliver the transaction for the sale of the LTC project”. ↩︎
2. The previous SRO for the LTC was Shaun Pidcock, LTC Programme Director at National Highways. He was appointed in 2021. His appointment letter has today been removed from the DfT’s website. ↩︎
3. Taxpayers to contribute more than £3bn to Lower Thames Crossing, Financial Times, 3 December 2025. ↩︎
4. National Highways estimated in February 2025 that the total cost of the LTC would be £9.4bn if a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model was used (Table 2.1). It also estimated that £6.3bn of private finance would be needed. The FT reported that the Treasury has confirmed the cost would be “almost £11bn” and that the government needs to secure £7.5bn of private capital. See TAN press release of 3 December 2025. ↩︎
5. Lower Thames Crossing could triple tolls at Dartford, campaigners say, Guardian, 29 May 2025. ↩︎

For more information about the LTC, see TAN’s website, and in particular its latest briefing (pre-Budget), before another £891m was pledged for the LTC: The Lower Thames Crossing ‘smart’ motorway is the enemy of growth.