Representation by Mrs Susan Lindley
- Date submitted
- 24 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am a resident of Shorne, which is east of Gravesend. This is a personal opinion registration but please note that I am a Parish Councillor in Shorne (chair of the Planning and Highways Committee) and a Committee member of the Dickens’ Country Protection Society, both organisations have submitted their own registrations. I am very familiar with the natural environment east of Gravesend, through living in the area and the above voluntary activities, and also very familiar with traffic levels and problems having previously commuted to London and other destinations on the A2 and M2 and wider road network. I OBJECT overall to the National Highways proposals for an LTC immediately east of Gravesend because I consider that not to be the correct or an optimal location south of the Thames. A sample of my objections are given below: Project aims and objectives: • The proposal was “sold” to early consultation participants as intended to solve problems with traffic levels and pollution at Dartford. It is now clear that only marginal and temporary improvements there can be delivered, with these only effected by creating excessive traffic levels and pollution in a different, unsuitable area • The project objectives do not fit the actual problems at Dartford, but are highly selective and appear aimed at solving a completely different problem, that will not actually be delivered in practice. • There has been predetermination in the way that successive consultations have been conducted, including underhand tactics such as e-mailing the entire DART-charge subscriber list and questions framed so that they inappropriately link separate parameters Proposed location: • The location is so near to the Dartford Crossing that any problems at either location will adversely affect the other, causing widespread gridlock and economic damage • The location has high environmental sensitivity which cannot truly be compensated • If the actual objectives are to remove cross-Channel freight from the Dartford Crossing then this could and should be achieved much further east – there is no point bringing all the HGV’s as far west as Gravesend, they should be diverted off instead by a link from the A249 at Sheppey, to Essex via Grain, both being locations which would benefit from additional connectivity and employment opportunities Overall design and information: • Existing traffic levels in the area are already too high and rapidly increasing. Imposing the LTC here will make traffic much worse and untenable. The project intends to pull more traffic onto the M2 and A2 including e.g. reducing capacity past Gravesend from four lanes to only two, and deliberately slowing traffic speed on the M2, including LTC traffic, due to excessive volumes • The earliest published designs were highly misleading to consultation respondents. • The traffic and pollution predictions are not credible • Proposed local traffic routing changes are highly detrimental to local residents • Object to loss of the locally significant wooded A2 central reservation, which is played down in the application documents • Concerned about adequacy of drainage for peak rainfall, risk of contaminated water overflow damaging the highly valued North Kent marshes ecosystem.