Issues have arisen regarding The Thames Crossing. It has emerged that there is a potential conflict between the Lower Thames Crossing scheme and the Thames Freeport, one of 8 Freeports announced by the Government back in the March budget.
National Highways have therefore written to the DFT and MHCLG asking government to make a decision on whether they want Lower Thames Crossing to continue to be progressed as it is, or if they want some redesign work to be carried out to enable the Freeport to progress as approved. Government are expected to make a decision in the next few weeks.
In terms of timescales, if government give National Highways the green light to continue with the current design they expect to submit their planning around end of Q1/Q2 of next calendar year. If the government instruct National Highways to redesign elements of the scheme to address the red line boundary overlap, the application will not be submitted until later next year. Once a government decision is taken National Highways will communicate a revised timetable to stakeholders.