THE new chairman of Thurrock Council's Lower Thames Crossing Task Force has blasted Highways England for the content and nature of its latest consultation programme in Thurrock.

Cllr Fraser Massey, an independent, non-aligned councillor from East Tilbury, was elected as new chair of the task force at last night's annual meeting. He succeeds Cllr Gerard Rice who in now the vice-chairman.

The meeting heard a detailed presentation from Highways England about their latest 'refinement consultation'. It would be a fair summary to say that councillors were not at all impressed.

You can read the full presentation via this Thurrock Nub News link.

After the meeting Cllr Massey has released a detailed statement about his concerns both about the consultation – and the impact of the changes to the proposals and the negative impact they will have on lives across a wide swath of the borough.

He says: "It is clear from questions and answers at the Lower Thames Crossing Task Force meeting that from across all corners of Thurrock residents don't feel the previous consultation was concluded successfully due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

"In response Highways England extended the consultation by two weeks, this at a time when the whole country was rightly concerned with health and protecting those most at risk.

"Now we have another 'refinement' consultation upon us, this is before high level summary information from the earlier consultation has been shared publicly.

Residents will have to pay to find out how this massive expensive construction project will affect their homes, communities

"And the latest consultation is primarily online or phone based, these phone calls are not even free, they are a local rate number. So now residents will have to pay to find out how this massive expensive construction project will affect their homes, communities and Thurrock as a whole.

"Many of our residents do not have the internet and we are concerned we are going to miss a big amount of important responses.

"The refinement consultation has introduced discussion on certain impacts of the proposed scheme, to name two, firstly the tall long noise barriers which will be constructed on certain points of the route, some up to six metres (19.68 foot) high.

"It sounds like the Lower Thames Crossing could introduce the great walls of Thurrock! Other sections seem to be a tiny 1 metre (3.28 foot) which the Task Force failed to see the substantial benefit of.

"The second aspect is that of utilities. It is only at this late stage Highways England have decided to show where utilities such as gas, electricity and water will be located. We find it hard to believe these essential utilities locations have only just been decided upon. These will affect many more communities in Thurrock and all we have are assurances that utilities such as water will be upgraded to not impact residents.

"And I have barely even touched on the critical health and environment impact this will have on Thurrock.

"It appears a lot of this information won't be made available until the Development Consent Order (DCO) is submitted, this is when things are effectively 'set in stone' and we are really concerned the negative long term impact on health and environment across Thurrock will last for generations to come.

"Thurrock already has appalling air quality and high levels of COPD, respiratory premature death, and putting a six lane motorway through the middle of somewhere never helped to improve anyone's health. Sadly when the environment is taken away, it is unrecognisable and gone forever, no amount of mitigation can replace delicate ecosystems and long established woodlands.

"The ambitious six year build plan means to hit that target Highways England need long working hours, this could be 7AM-10PM throughout the summer months which is March till November according to Highways England.

"An extra hour for opening and closing up the sites meaning noise pollution and other impacts could be 6AM-11PM for nine months of the year. This does not include the 24 hour working actually boring the tunnel and 24 hour work carried out in areas with less homes.

"I urge all residents to engage and complete the consultation."

"All of this work to improve the Dartford Crossing, which was the original aim of the scheme.

"If the Lower Thames Crossing goes ahead to plan the Dartford Crossing will still be over capacity by the time Highways England finishes ripping through Thurrock.

"Although this proposed scheme will affect communities directly greatly around and along the route it will have a massive impact on Thurrock as a whole and everyone will experience issues with the construction and use of the road going forward.

"The A13 widening will pale in comparison with the pure size of this scheme. I urge all residents to engage and complete the consultation.

"Thurrock had a great response despite Covid19 with almost 6000 responses in the last consultation. With the refinement consultation coming through so soon after the last one it is important to have your say and remember it ends at 23:59 on the 12th August 2020.

"This may well be the last chance for Thurrock to send a clear message to Highways England that this crossing is not wanted here in the way it is being proposed.

"We already have a lot of industry, large ports, the M25, A13 and other major roads in Thurrock. If Highways England want to snake a large motorway through the middle of the borough they need to hear from residents and show their views have been listened to and changes made and those views are not just noted.

"This is a horror story"

"The Task Force does not feel the design refinements in any way benefit Thurrock overall, we are still opposed to this project as currently proposed and will accelerate work with our partners going forward as this scheme moves towards the submission of the Development Consent Order."

Cllr Rice was equally horrified about the health impact of the changes to the amount of time that work will be taking place on any new build.

He described it as a 'horror story' and said: "Residents are horrified the construction could take seven years and the hours of operation will be 6am to 11pm from March to November - which is regarded by Highways England as summer - and residents of West and East Tilbury and Tilbury can look foward to 24 hour working to put the tunnels in.

"The residents of Chadwell St Mary and Orsett Heath are in some instances 200 metres from this six lane motorway with no environmental protection. This is a horror story."

Cllr Rice also called for more clarity on the purchase of blighted property by Highways England and discretion purchases the agency plans to make.

The latest consultation runs until 12 August

How to have your say:

Visit lowerthamescrossing.co.uk/design-consultation

By email – [email protected]

By telephone – 0300 123 5000

By post using FREEPOST LTC Consultation

You can see more local reaction to the crossing and how to engage with the local campaign here.