THURROCK Council planners have resurrected a plan first drafted around 20 years ago, to open a new rail station in Corringham.

On Wednesday next week (30 September), councillors will be asked to approve a new Transport Strategy for the borough.

There are a number of controversial deletions from an original draft of the plan, including axing planned link roads, and also new parts, that include the station at Corringham and a new River Thames dock in Purfleet.

The proposed new station would be built on the c2c line between Stanford-le-Hope and Pitsea, providing rail access for residents in Corringham, Fobbing and Lower Langdon.

It forms part of a 'Transport Strategy,' which sets out how the borough's road, rail, walking and cycling networks could evolve between 2026 and 2040 alongside planned development.

But the idea of a Corringham station is far from new. Between 2006 and 2008 the idea of a new station in the town was frequently discussed, promoted and researched by the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation (TTGDC), which was brought in to replace Thurrock's 'failed' planning department.

At a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds, the TTGDC drafted masterplans for a completely revised Thurrock.

A number of its ideas, including supporting the creation of High House Production Park in Purfleet and the migration of the Royal Opera House workshops to Thurrock, plus the development of the Thames Gateway port and logistics park on the site of the former Shellhaven refinery at Coryton, have come to fruition.

But many were discarded by the TTGDC as it sharpened its thoughts and developed five borough masterplans. One of the ideas dropped was the station at Corringham, though it did feature in a number of subsequent housing development projects as a possibility. The detailed plans for the east of the borough can be read in the link (in red) below).

When the TTGDC was scrapped in October 2012 in the much-vaunted 'bonfire of the quangos' following a cost-cutting coalition government initiative to reduce bureaucracy led by then Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, the Brentwood and Ongar MP and now a Life peer, most of its work was consigned to the history books by gleeful Thurrock planners who were glad to get their hand back on the tiller of future development.

In the intervening years many of the ideas in the masterplans have reemerged as Thurrock council initiatives. In 2023 the council produced a draft Local Plan. In it the council detailed its plans for Corringham, which included the possibility of the new station. Three years on, the idea has been extrapolated again by the current think tank.

The new council documents to be considered next week say the station would play a key role in supporting future housing growth while also improving connections for existing communities that currently have limited access to public transport.

The strategy states: "With large developments foreseen in Corringham, a new railway station between Stanford-le-Hope and Pitsea will enable sustainable travel on new development and improve connectivity of existing communities."

Corringham last had its own rail station 74 years ago.

Connected with the London Tilbury and Southend Railway, tt served the town and Fobbing village between 1901 and 1952 and was also the terminus for the Corringham Light Railway that ran to Kynochtown (later Coryton).

The new station proposal is one of several major transport schemes earmarked for the area.

The strategy also outlines plans for significant new road infrastructure around Corringham and Fobbing to help cope with rising traffic levels.

A new route running parallel to Southend Road and Lampits Hill, together with a new bridge across the railway line, is proposed to improve capacity and ease congestion as the area expands.

According to the council, the new bridge would allow the existing hump-backed railway bridge on Southend Road to be downgraded for use by pedestrians and cyclists, creating a dedicated active travel route.

Another proposed scheme would see a new road built between Fobbing High Road and Lampits Hill, allowing the closure of the level crossing at Fobbing.

The strategy describes Corringham and Fobbing as areas that combine historic village character with growing residential communities but notes that transport links have struggled to keep pace with development.

It highlights longstanding concerns about the level crossing at the northern end of Fobbing, describing it as both a safety issue and a physical barrier that divides the village. The latter supposition seems strange as there are only a small number of households between the rail line and A13 and while the small number houses north of the A13 near the Five Bells Harvester pub sit within the Thurrock curtilage, many residents there refer to themselves as living in Vange, a part of Basildon.

Supporters of the plans argue the package of rail and road improvements would help 'future-proof' the area, reduce reliance on car journeys and improve links between local communities and employment centres.