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Maxim welcomes positive tunnel vision

January, 2025

News that the Government is exploring private sector funding options as part of its growth agenda means there may finally be light at the end of the tunnel for the proposed Lower Thames Crossing.

Work to look at ways to ease congestion at the Dartford crossing first began in 2009. In fact, back in 2016, Maxim acted on behalf of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (now sadly defunct) and Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce. We worked across Kent, Essex and East Sussex, and successfully lobbied for the support of key businesses and organisations. In some small way we’d like to think this helped lead to a preferred route being chosen in April 2017.

To date, some £800m has been spent on the project – preparing the Development Consent Order, buying land, carrying out technical surveys, and consulting with the public, stakeholders and industry.

When the £9+ billion road and tunnel project finally comes to fruition, it will be a game-changer for Kent. It will ease the regular misery of heading north via Dartford and provide a much more convenient and quicker route from the east of the county to Essex and beyond.

Although not universally popular, the improved infrastructure it brings will provide an economic boost to the county, facilitating the flow of goods arriving in the UK via the Channel Ports, reducing congestion and offering a fillip to Kent’s significant logistics and distribution sector. There will also, of course, be an immediate benefit for the many local firms that will form part of the construction supply chain.

On a note of caution, as Kent and Medway we still need to push for the upgrading of junctions along the M2 in order to capitalise on the investment in the tunnel and anticipated traffic levels, and support growth at the ports. 

Having been an advocate of the proposals for many years Maxim and having worked on the project in its early days, we look forward to seeing the first vehicles make the crossing.

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