IN light of the news this week that the cost of the proposed Grays Underpass, linking the town's station with the High Street, is estimated at £37m and could well rise beyond that, a local councillor says he fears the project could complete an unwanted hat-trick.

Labour's Cllr Martin Kerin, who represents Grays Riverside where the underpass will be created, has expressed his concern over the rising costs already of a project only in its infancy and he says he worries this could be an unwanted hattrick of overspent projects, coming on the heels of the A13 widening and Stanford rail station overspends.

Speaking after this week's planning, transport, regeneration overview and scrutiny committee when the underpass scheme was reviewed, he said: "Having closely scrutinised and shadowed the Thurrock Tories' record on delivering regeneration over a number of years, there are echoes in this news of the failing Orsett Cock and Stanford overspends. The report received during the meeting did nothing to reassure me that this Grays Underpass project will fare any better.

"The report lacked any concrete, substantial detail about costs, and did little to reassure me that the projected costs (which have increased by over £10m since 2017) won't spiral further upwards. With the ongoing debacle around the A13 Widening and Stanford Station, this simply isn't good enough.

"Thurrock residents deserve better than this. This unwanted hattrick of overspending needs to be urgently addressed. Thurrock's hardworking taxpayers do not deserve a 'third time unlucky."

You can watch Tuesday's meeting and the debate about the underpass via this link.