Lower Thames Crossing: Six month review begins

A six-month inquiry into one of the UK's largest planned road projects is due to begin.

The Lower Thames Crossing project would link Essex and Kent, with work starting in 2026.

Last year, a coalition of conservation groups called the scheme "damaging" and asked the Planning Inspectorate to review the plans.

The government had previously accepted the tunnel plan but announced a two-year delay to the project in March.

This will be the first of three "open floor" hearings with interested local parties giving oral statements via an online hook-up, as part of the review.

The Planning Inspectorate will produce a report on the £9bn plan that would see a new 14 mile (23km) road, of which 2.6 miles (4.1km) would be underground.

It will connect the M25 in Essex with the M2 and A2 in Kent via a new tunnel under the Thames estuary to the east of Tilbury on the north bank and Gravesend on the south.

The Planning Inspectorate will recommend how the project should proceed but the final decision will be made by the secretary of state for transport - currently Mark Harper MP.

Thurrock Council in Essex had opposed the project and will be making submissions against plans.

The government has already spent £800m on the scheme.

National Highways said the crossing would be the "greenest road" in the UK.

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