A lack of long-term planning for river crossings has damaged local economies and left many UK regions poorly connected, MPs have warned.
With redevelopments at the Mersey Gateway Project underway and momentum building for new crossings in East London and the Lower Thames, members of the transport committee today accused the Government of taking a short-term approach to key infrastructure that has limited local growth.
MPs on the committee said proposals for a range of new Thames crossings in the capital were now ‘long overdue’ yet had not been backed by ‘sufficient leadership’ to push plans through to construction.
Pressure was raised on the Department for Transport (DfT) to work with London boroughs and establish a special purpose company tasked with overseeing the developments.
Committee chair, Louise Ellman, said ‘a lack of political leadership’ over the east London plans had seen ‘plans shelved repeatedly’ despite mounting congestion issues.
Questions were raised about the ‘design life’ established for new crossings, which committee members said was too short to cope with future traffic growth and had led to ‘costly duplication’ in crossings.
Ms Ellman also pushed the Government to make ‘meaningful progress’ on new infrastructure to alleviate pressure on the Dartford Crossing joining Kent and Essex.
Discussing the development, she said ministers had ‘done little’ over the past five years to build the kind of consensus between local authorities that is required in order to reconcile national transport objectives and respect local concerns’.
‘A lack of cross-river capacity limits local and national economic growth so we call upon the Government to take a far more long-term approach when planning new bridges and tunnels,’ Ms Ellman said.
‘We also heard during this inquiry how current cost-benefit analysis methods used in project design consistently underestimate the usage of new crossings. The Government must rectify that weakness as soon as possible.’
Responding to the committee, a DfT spokesperson said: ‘We are committed to a new Lower Thames Crossing which will be a crucial part of this country’s road network. It will bring huge economic benefits not only to Essex and Kent but the South East as a whole.
‘We have worked closely with local communities on this issue and the strength of feeling is clear, with over 5,700 responses to our last consultation.
‘It is vital that we make the right choice for the location, which is why we are carrying out a detailed assessment of two options. This work will not delay the delivery of the crossing and the new crossing is still on course to open by 2025.’
