Representation by Thames Crossing Action Group (Thames Crossing Action Group)
- Date submitted
- 24 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
We are strongly opposed to the proposed LTC. Evidence shows that the project fails to meet the scheme objectives. 6.6 million tonnes of carbon emissions is not compliant with Net Zero. There is no evidence to back up claims of being able to further slash carbon. The whole proposed route would fail against the newly set legal targets for air pollution/PM2.5 and would worsen air pollution. Whilst it falls within the London Borough of Havering, which is subject to ULEZ, LTC would be exempt and increase air pollution. The proposed LTC would not solve the problems of congestion and pollution at the Dartford Crossing, it would remain over design capacity. It would result in an increase in traffic. There would not be adequate connections in general and also to allow traffic to migrate between the two crossings when there are incidents, resulting in more chaos, congestion and pollution. It would have a detrimental effect on the existing road network, and includes built in bottlenecks that would cause issues. Evidence shows that it would be a ‘Smart’ Motorway by stealth and increase the number of incidents, so we have serious concerns about safety. It would destroy and impact homes, lives, health and well-being, greenbelt land, woodlands (including Ancient woodland), trees and hedgerows, agricultural land (including grade 1 list land) at a time when food security is a major issue, wildlife and habitats, heritage, solar farms, special category land, emergency services, businesses, leisure, communities, and more. We have concerns about the impacts of construction, including risk of UXOs. We do not believe that there has been adequate consultation and adequate info shared with the public and others including local authorities, and that holding so much info back to DCO will mean people will not have adequate time to review and make representations about many important aspects as well as if the info had been released when requested prior to DCO. We do not believe that alternatives have been adequately considered. There is no provision for cross river active travel, and it would not be viable for public transport/buses due to lack of adequate connections. There is a false economy in regard to funding that would be needed for projects/works that would be needed as a direct result of LTC if it goes ahead but that are not being included in the LTC project. There is also creative accounting in regard to environmental mitigation and compensation. We do not believe that environmental mitigation would be adequate, and there has also been a lot of greenwashing of the project. We have concerns about impact to climate change, biodiversity, and the natural environment. The cost has risen from £4.1bn up to £10bn+ and the adjusted Benefit Cost Ratio has dropped from 3.1 down to 1.22. We believe ministers and others have been misled about this hugely destructive and harmful, unfit for purpose project. We also reserve the right to make representation on anything else we uncover as we continue to work through the DCO documents.