FACTORS that might help bring back the Tilbury to Gravesend passenger ferry have been making news this week.

Last evening (Tuesday, 14 October) Thurrock Council gave itself planning permission to build a government-funded extension to the landing stage at the Tilbury London International Cruise Terminal.

Members of the planning committee approved its own application for an extension, with Tilbury Cllr Steve Liddiard refuting suggestions that local residents would rather see money spent elsewhere in the town.

The development, estimated to cost £7 million, has been part of the Tilbury Town Fund vision to boost the town on the back of a £22.8 million grant from central government - though there has been local opposition to it - and concern that the government is simply handing cash over to a commercial venture - with little real benefit for 'ordinary' residents.

Last night's planning committee.

Cllr Liddiard, who declared himself pre-determined to support the application because of 'more than a hundred' residents who had asked him to support it, said: "The people in Tilbury want something that gives them access to the ferry to Gravesend."

The meeting gave approval for the project to go ahead – though the council's head of regeneration George McCullough told members no contracts with the port or potential service users had been arranged and there were still a lot of details, including the pontoon's ultimate ownership to be decided.

Earlier in the week the cross river ferry also featured in a news presentation by Labour MP for Gravesham, Dr Lauren Sullivan, who is calling for toll cash from the new Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) to used to secure the long-term future of the ferry service which, which was withdrawn last year when Thurrock Council pulled funding.

Even though funding for construction of the LTC is yet to be found and there is no cast iron certainty that the project will happen, Dr Sullivan has launched a campaign calling for money generated by LTC to pay a chunk of the running costs associated with the ferry.

Dr Sullivan, who was elected to Westminster last year, says businesses and local councils are prepared to back the service financially.

Dr Lauren Sullivan, who is calling for toll cash from the new Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) to used to secure the long-term future of the ferry service

But she said that it could take a long-term commitment from a project like the LTC to make sure the boats return.

On Monday (October 13), during a visit to the Dartford Crossing, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves acknowledged Dr Sullivan's commitment to her constituents.

While not promising to fund the crossings, Mrs Reeves did not rule it out and expressed her desire to make LTC "work for the people who are hosting the infrastructure".

And the Chancellor said work on the £10 billion could see "spades in the ground" sooner if the government can speed up court challenges.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves says she wants to cut the time it takes to deal with judicial reviews (JRs) and to limit the number of such actions being brought against major projects.

Mrs Reeves also wants judges with planning expertise to preside over legal cases to avoid lengthy delays in coming to decisions.

She said she intends to "back the builders not the blockers" to deliver major projects and to unlock growth.

Site surveys for the LTC, which will be an underground link between Gravesend and Thurrock under the River Thames, linking up with the M25 north of Ockendon, have already begun and completion is set for 2034.

It is hoped it will cut journey times and ease pressures on the Dartford tunnel and bridge.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves at the Dartford Crossing. Picture: Simon Finlay/LDRS

Speaking at the Dartford Crossing the Chancellor said: "We are reducing the time judicial reviews take by six months to make it earlier to get projects started and get spades in the ground.

"Of course the Lower Thames Crossing has been talked about for 16 years, there's 350,000 pages of planning application - that's longer than the complete works of Shakespeare - and we want to make it easier to get these projects started to start delivering for the people here in Dartford and across Kent and Essex as well.