Drivers are being hammered by bureaucracy after a 15-year attempt to build a key motorway continues to be held up as it becomes the UK’s biggest ever planning application.
Plans to build a motorway east of the Dartford Crossing have been supported by experts for years in a bid to ease congestion in the area.
Plans have been put forward to create the 14.3-mile Lower Thames Crossing to help relieve traffic on the M25 and surrounding areas.
It would run between the A2/M2 in Kent and the A13 in Essex and is expected to cost more than £9billion.
There are almost 360,000 pages of planning documents
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While the decision to build a new motorway has yet to be confirmed, documents for the Lower Thames Crossing have officially become the UK’s biggest-ever planning application.
It now contains more than 359,000 pages and would stretch 66 miles – almost five times as long as the proposed road itself.
A decision on the plan is understood to be handed down over the next six months with drivers eager to see changes introduced to ease congestion.
Sam Richards, founder of pro-growth group Britain Remade, said: “There is an unquestionable need for the crossing to cut congestion at the Dartford Crossing and improve air quality.
“But the size of the application is insane and totally unjustifiable by any sensible person. It is symbolic of what is wrong with our planning system.
“From an application that is taller than eight double-decker buses to having to go through multiple rounds of consultation over many years, currently it’s simply far too difficult and takes far too long to get anything built in Britain,” The Times reported.
It is believed that National Highways has spent more than £267million on the application, with additional spending surpassing £800million.
The Lower Thames Crossing route would also spur the development and construction of around 50 new bridges and viaducts, according to National Highways.
Speaking to GB News this afternoon, Ben Hopkinson, policy researcher at Britain Remade, slammed the developments and highlighted the cost of the plans without anything being built.
He said: “Already £267million has been spent just on the planning application itself, and that’s just one part of the Government telling another part of the Government 'can I build this road?'
“That £267million is more than Norway spent actually building the world’s largest road tunnel.
“They also had enough left over the build the world’s deepest undersea tunnel as well. It’s just so clear that our planning system is holding us back from delivering much-needed infrastructure that Britain really requires.”
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A decision on the development of the Lower Thames Crossing is expected within the coming months
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One of the most vocal backers of the plan is Damian Green, MP for Ashford in Kent, who has called it a “vital piece of infrastructure”.