THE government has revealed that the controversial Lower Thames Crossing scheme will be fully privatised and its builders and owners will be able to claim tolls from it and the Dartford crossing in perpetuity.

The £11 billion scheme will be taken away from the management of National Highways, with the government today appointing Kate Cohen as Senior Responsible Owner for the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) project.

Her previous role, created in a switch from her position as Director of Strategic Roads and Local Projects shared the same title but she was tasked with providing high-level oversight while delivery continued under National Highways.

Now the buck will stop on her desk directly – and she appears to have the power to pull the plug on the project if it proves not to be viable.

In the letter of appointment Ms Cohen, who has worked at the DfT for nearly nine years after spending four years as Project Director at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) has been told: "As SRO, you are directly accountable to the Roads Transport Group Director General, under the oversight of Jo Shanmugalingam, as Accounting Officer for the Department for Transport and the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP.

"Your Lower Thames Crossing project is within the Roads and Projects Infrastructure Directorate under the oversight of the Chair of the Investment Committee and is included in the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

"You have personal responsibility for the delivery of the Lower Thames Crossing project and will be held accountable for the delivery of its objectives, policy intent and outcomes. This encompasses securing and protecting its vision, ensuring that it is governed responsibly, reported on honestly, escalated appropriately and influencing the context, culture and operating environment of the project.

"You are also responsible for ensuring the ongoing viability of the project and recommending its pause or termination if appropriate. Where issues arise that you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these to the Lower Thames Crossing programme board, the Executive Committee's (ExCo) sub-committees and HM Treasury.

"You remain accountable to ministers, as set out in the Civil Service Code and should deliver the project in accordance with the objectives and policy intent as set by ministers."

The letter confirms that part of her role will be to arrange the sale of the six-lane LTC to the private entity which will own and operate the new motorway and the existing state-owned Dartford Crossings, collecting the revenues from user charges in perpetuity.

Reacting to the news the independent action group the Transport Action Network (TAN), which opposes the crossing, says the scheme should not go ahead but says if it does it will be a gift of the three billion already spent on the project to its new owners.

Chris Todd, Director of TAN, said: "Will private investors see the Lower Thames Crossing as Christmas come early with its gift of £3bn of public funding? Or will they see it for the turkey it really is?

"The government clearly has not learnt lessons from previous failed PFI projects that have cost taxpayers dearly and seems determined to press ahead regardless. Dartford tolls have already risen 40% and are only going to go up with project costs going through the roof.

"All this for a road that will cause seven years of construction chaos for only five years relief at Dartford. It's time Labour pulled the plug before it's too late. It is taking much needed funding away from better value rail projects around the country.

"Ministers are telling us that renationalisation of the railways is good for passengers and taxpayers while doing the exact opposite with the country's biggest road project. Labour will let the privateers extract profit from the existing Dartford Crossings and the new LTC by fleecing users for generations to come."

Opening day for the LTC has now been put back from 2032 to 2034 and TAN says there is a huge question of best value as the scheme will proceed before it is known if it is good value for taxpayers (as a Full Business Case won't be produced until 2028)

TAN says: "It will continue to drain public money from rail schemes across England which are being cancelled

"The Financial Times reported on 3 December that the cost of the LTC has jumped 17% to £11bn in just nine months, with taxpayers contributing £3bn. Meanwhile the private investment needed has risen from £6.3bn to £7.5bn, up 19%4. These cost increases will lead to significantly higher tolls at Dartford and the LTC, as TAN has previously predicted."