Lower Thames Crossing: The winners and losers

Plus the 425 people that want to run Kent, news in brief, and more

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Let’s get to it. In this edition, we’re looking at the winners and losers of the government’s recent decision to approve the Lower Thames Crossing, which seems set to reshape the county's geography. Further down, you’ll also find details of the 425 candidates standing in the upcoming Kent County Council elections, our news in brief roundup, and more.

Thanks again for being here.

Ed Jennings
Editor, the Kent Current

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Lower Thames Crossing: The winners and losers

Following a planning process that took decades, cost nearly £270m and a planning document that ran 395,000 pages, the government has finally granted permission for the Lower Thames Crossing.

The Lower Thames Crossing will be the largest infrastructure project in the southeast in decades, creating a new dual tunnel, six lane link between Kent and Essex to relieve pressure on the Dartford Crossing further west that will reshape the economic geography of the region.

Like any new infrastructure that is proposed in the UK, the scheme has faced significant opposition while also receiving strong support from other quarters. As a result, the permission granted to the project has created an odd mix of winners and losers.

Winner: Dartford
Politics can sometimes create strange bedfellows, and nowhere is that more true than in Dartford, where nearly all of the political power players in the district wanted the Lower Thames Crossing built. The former MP supported it, the new MP supports it, the council supports it, all of which is unsurprising given the level of congestion that the roads around the town are subjected to given the overloading of the existing Dartford Crossing.

Loser: Gravesham
Things are slightly different over the border in Gravesham, which is perhaps to be expected given it’s the district where everything will be built on the Kent side of the route. Gravesham faces a substantial new junction being constructed between Medway and Gravesend, a dual carriageway through the countryside, and likely the best part of a decade of disruption from the construction. Gravesham Council have given a rather tepid response to the news, while the new MP for Gravesham, Lauren Sullivan, has campaigned vocally against the go-ahead being given.

Winner: Medway
Further east, Medway Council claimed they were ‘delighted’ by the approval and called the scheme ‘vitally important’ for the area. Their main positives primarily revolve around improved connectivity, which is unsurprising given it can currently take in excess of an hour to reach places locals can see just across the water. The project has the power to bring Kent and Essex must closer together in terms of journey times, opening up a number of new economic opportunities for both sides of the river.

Loser: Kent County Council
The stated position of KCC is to support the Lower Thames Crossing, even though they have raised concerns about environmental issues, the impact on Shorne Woods Country Park, and the knock-on effects on the existing road network. One significant change is that much more traffic will likely use the A2-M2-A229-M20 corridor, where Blue Bell Hill would almost certainly suffer from capacity issues, particularly the junctions along the route. As a result, KCC has created a plan to improve traffic flow on Blue Bell Hill, even if it has a subsequent effect of harming movement between the Medway Towns and Maidstone. The only problem is that the improvements they have in mind will cost £250m, money they definitely don’t have, so they are reliant on the government paying for most of it. If they don’t, the Crossing could have a detrimental effect on the roads between Medway and Maidstone.

Possible winner: Kent County Council
Under the current government timeline for local government reorganisation, Kent County Council likely won’t exist in a few years, so the whole thing won’t be their problem anymore.

Loser: Nearby residents
Of course, it’s easy to talk in broad strokes about this kind of project, so it’s easy to forget the direct impacts that such schemes can have on those who live nearby. The BBC spoke to a number of residents being impacted by the route, mainly on the Essex side of the river. Still, the same issues are playing out for some residents around the Thong Lane area in Gravesham, who are about to have a new dual carriageway going past their houses. Campaign groups like the Lower Thames Action Group sprang up to fight the proposals. At the same time, parish councils like Shorne remain horrified by the ‘largest construction site we have ever seen in this area’ and the ‘massive spaghetti junction’ that comes with the project.

Winner: YIMBYs
It’s no secret that getting anything built in this country is difficult. It’s slow, expensive, and often, most projects are fought to the last gasp by those who oppose them. As a result, large infrastructure projects rarely get built despite the constant development of housebuilding, even where there aren’t the transport links to support them. Pro-development urbanists like friend of this publication James O’Malley have set out compelling arguments for why projects like the Lower Thames Crossing are good, even for those who instinctively recoil from the idea of a massive new motorway. O’Malley makes the case that the LTC is primarily about increasing crossing capacity, which induces demand that represents economic growth. Even if the scheme isn’t perfect, he points out, it could be good enough.

Loser: Environment
All of that said, it’s hard to sugarcoat that a decade long construction project (let’s be honest: no one believes it will be complete by the stated 2032) to build a six lane dual carriageway will be bad for the environment. The Kent Wildlife Trust highlight that 8 hectares of ancient woodland is due to be lost to the scheme, as well as hundreds of hectares of habitat destruction. Further, the organisation raises concerns that the project will create 6.5m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and points out that parts of the planned route already exceed safe levels of nitrogen dioxide.

Of course, all of this positioning may now be somewhat irrelevant, given the government has approved the scheme. Time will tell whether or not the scheme will be delivered as designed, but if it does, the transport and economic geography of Kent will likely look very different a decade from now.

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The 425 people that want to run Kent

Kent County Council elections are coming up on 1 May, with all 81 seats up for grabs in what could be an unprecedented political shift for the county.

Last Friday, the full list of candidates was published, with 425 names fighting for a place on the council.

The five main parties have made a valiant effort to stand candidates across the county. The Conservatives, Labour, and Reform have put up candidates in all 81 seats, while the Greens have managed 75 and the Lib Dems 73, the latter seemingly having a strong aversion to Dartford.

Kent has 18 candidates representing localist parties like the Swale Independents and the Tunbridge Wells Alliance, 7 independent candidates, as well as 5 from the Heritage Party, 2 from the Socialist Party, 2 from the Homeland Party, and 1 British Democrat.

You can find the full list of candidates standing across the county on the Kent County Council website by district: Ashford / Canterbury / Dartford / Dover / Folkestone and Hythe / Gravesham / Maidstone / Sevenoaks / Swale / Thanet / Tonbridge and Malling / Tunbridge Wells

We’re still working our way through all of the names and discovering there are some ‘characters’ amongst them, but we’ll come back with our findings on that later.

In the meantime, we’re throwing this open to you. If you’ve got any information on any of the candidates standing that you think we might be interested in, you can let us know discreetly via hello AT kentcurrent DOT news.

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In brief

🏗️ Further details have been submitted for a 2,500 home development west of Sittingbourne. The proposals, informally known as Foxchurch, would include a commercial employment zone, doctors’ surgery, sports hub, primary school, retail, and open space. A decision on the plans is due to be made by the end of the month (though may take much longer in reality), with Bobbing Parish Council and Swale Independents leader Mike Baldock pushing back against the proposals.

🏘️ Thanet District Council officers have recommended that a 1,461 home development north of Westwood Cross be deferred and delegated for approval. The plans include a new primary school, commercial space, green spaces, and a link road. The final decision will be made at an extraordinary Planning Committee meeting next week.

🧰 Dartford Borough Council has suspended all non-emergency repairs to social housing after their maintenance contractor went into administration. Tenants were given the news last week, with the council aiming to get services back to normal ‘as soon as possible.’

🚌 Double decker buses will be scrapped from Canterbury’s Park & Ride service to stem losses. Canterbury City Council says the service is currently losing £32,000 per month, with the largest shortfall coming from the Sturry Road site. Passenger numbers on journeys between the city centre and the car parks are still one-third below pre-pandemic figures.

🚛 Swale has the most number of missed bin collections in Kent, with Sevenoaks having the fewest.

🏫 Kent County Council has dropped its proposed reforms to special schools after head teachers threatened legal action.

🛳️ The Port of Dover has completed a £6m upgrade that allows larger cruise ships to dock at the terminal. The port already has more than 20 cruise ships call each year, and the new plans allow the largest vessels to visit Kent.

🪖 Secret wartime tunnels in Folkestone could be opened to the public after a new owner plans to turn the complex into a heritage centre.

🥦 A farm shop in Romney Marsh has installed vending machines to allow them to sell produce out of hours. If you’re in the area, you can obtain meat, vegetables, fresh milk, and more in a marvel of modern technology.

🎥 The latest season of Black Mirror features an episode filmed in Kent. Episode five, ‘Eulogy’, includes filming around Whitstable and Herne Bay. The episode (and the rest of season 7) releases on Netflix tomorrow (Thu 10 Apr).

⚽ Whitstable Town FC are heading to Wembley after reaching the final of the FA Vase. The trophy allows lower-level non-league teams to reach a tournament final.

🚌 Stagecoach is offering free tickets to the first 5,000 passengers using their app. Full details are available on their website.

🚗 An anti-Elon Musk and Tesla billboard has been erected in Broadstairs.

📰 The local news ecosystem in Kent has been chronically underserved for a long time, so we’re thrilled to see another new outlet entering the area. Former KM journalist Rhys Griffiths is launching the Folkestone Dispatch to tell stories of the town. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

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More Currents

For our first week, we published two completely different but (if we can say so ourselves) equally fascinating features. For our first big interview, we sat down with legendary illustrator Ralph Steadman to talk about his recent career retrospective exhibition, his work with Hunter S Thompson, and lots more.

Then we went behind the scenes with United Kingdom Pro Wrestling, Kent’s leading professional wrestling promotion. In. the process, we found out what goes into creating the storylines and big personalities that manage to engage young and old alike.

Coming up later this week and into next week, we have a series of interviews with each of the political groups at Kent County Council as we head toward elections in a few weeks. How are they preparing for the election, and what do they think of their chances? That series will kick off this Saturday when we talk to Roger Gough, the Conservative leader of Kent County Council.

Our future interviews will be mainly exclusive to our paid supporters, so if you want to receive our future discussions with the big names of Kent, please consider upgrading to support our work if you haven’t already done so.

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Footnotes

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