WHAT was described as a "speed bump, not a complete stop" last November now appears to have turned into something of a major obstacle for Highways England who have just missed their own deadline for resubmitting plans for the Lower Thames Crossing to the government.

The original bid for a Development Consent order for the huge project that will drive a three lane motorway through Thurrock's green belt was pulled in November when it quickly became clear the submitting document was missing huge amounts of key details and was on the brink of rejection by the Planning Inspectorate.

To spare its own blushes Highways England, which won few friends in Thurrock as it bulldozed its plans through and drove roughshod over much local opinion, pulled the plans 122 days ago.

At the time, Lower Thames Crossing executive director Matt Palmer said he expected the plans to be resubmitted within 90 to 120 days of the original application being withdrawn.

He added that he expected the development consent order application to be resubmitted early in the New Year, adding that this is a "speed bump, not a complete stop".

He told the Civil Engineer magazine and news portal: "It doesn't feel like it will take a long time to turn around. If you look at other [DCO] applications that have been withdrawn they tend to be resubmitted in 90 to 120 days and I think we are looking at that sort of timeframe.

"The application itself is 42,000 pages. We have taken all the lessons learnt from other, successful Highways England projects and applied those to the DCO.

"(The Planning Inspectorate) obviously wants more information so we have taken on board what they have said and we are confident we can provide that.

"The difficulty with a project of this scale and this significance is that there is no magic bar to jump over – it is about finding where that bar is and that's what we've got to do now."

Finding where the bar is appears to have been a lot more difficult than Mr Palmer and his colleagues first imagined. Only last week the agency confirmed it was still busy collecting information required by the Planning Inspectorate.

As late as yesterday (Sunday, 21 March) the Thurrock-based Thames Crossing Action Group told how the agency was still attempting to muddy the waters with contradictory information and was still not paying due regard to the requirements of Thurrock

A Highways England spokesperson added: "We are continuing to work with the Planning Inspectorate and are carrying out extensive engagement with our neighbouring local authorities to address their feedback, and take the opportunity to strengthen our application.

"We appreciate that there are millions of people every year who are frustrated by congestion on the Dartford Crossing, and who are looking forward to the opportunities that come with building a scheme on this scale, and we can reassure you that we will be resubmitting our revised, stronger application as soon as possible."

Ground investigation work has been ongoing at the site since 2017 and in total more than £100 million has been spent on ground investigations in the region.

Meanwhile Highways England has now announced it is about to embark on a major project to the north of Thurrock – one that at one point was partially included in the options for the Thames Crossing route.

One of the options put forward would have seen the M2-M25 link road planned to be built through Thurrock to run parallel with the A128 and join up with the A127 before approaching the M25. That option, known as Route 4, would have seen significant improvements made to the major road linking Basildon, Southend and wider South Essex with the east of London.

The A128 link option was favoured by Thurrock MP Jackie Doyle-Price. At the time she said: "I continue to make the point that residents in Thurrock have showed more support for Route 4; and that as it is us that will be most impacted by the crossing our views should carry more weight than the overall conclusion of a national consultation."

Essex County Council and Southend Council were reported to be ready to commit to support it, and help fund other A127 improvements to support the link. However, Highways England rejected the option.

Now it looks like the A127 improvements will be happening as a standalone project with Highways England spearheading another major development in the south Essex region as a completely separate entity – rather than joining them up and building on the advantages a joint approach might have brought.

More than 80,000 vehicles a day use some sections of the A127 – making it the busiest non-trunk road in Essex and busier than parts of the M11. However, the dual carriageway is close to capacity at peak times, resulting in regular congestion and delays.

Highways England says: "Large-scale improvements are needed, and we are making the case for the A127 to first be re-adopted as a trunk road and managed as part of Highways England's Strategic Road Network, in recognition of its vital strategic role."

The lack of joined-up thinking between the two projects brings to mind another comment made by Ms Doyle-Price in February last year when she said: "If we are going to make this road work for us, Highways England must take proper account of how it interacts with the local road network. It is no use seeing it just as a strategic road."