The planning application for the £10 billion Lower Thames Crossing has become Britain’s biggest ever, with documents totalling more than 359,000 pages.
It’s been revealed the paperwork for the project to relieve traffic on the M25 at Dartford, if laid end to end, would run nearly five times as long as the road itself.
The Times reports the application contains 2,383 different documents, a total which now surpasses Heathrow’s terminal five, the length of which prompted calls for reforming the system in 2001.
The process has taken 15 years so far, after initial work scoping it out began in 2009.
“There is an unquestionable need for the crossing to cut congestion at the Dartford Crossing and improve air quality. But the size of the application is insane and totally unjustifiable by any sensible person,” Sam Richards, the founder of Britain Remade, a pro-growth campaign group, told the Times. “From an application that is taller than eight double decker buses to having to go through multiple rounds of consultation over many years, currently it’s simply far too difficult and takes far too long to get anything built in Britain.”
(Picture – National Highways)
