Extra £174m earmarked for ‘spiralling’ bill for Lower Thames Crossing | Infrastructure
Ministers have allocated more than £170m of extra funds to help build the Lower Thames Crossing road tunnel, raising concerns about the “escalating” costs of one of the UK’s biggest planned infrastructure projects.
The proposed £11bn route between Kent and Essex under the River Thames is estimated to cost more per mile than the HS2 high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham. The project has been funded as part of a plan to spend £3.1bn of public money, before a private sector firm is hoped to fund £7.5bn.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said the extra cash of £174 million will be used to fund public works on both sides of the tunnel and will be covered from existing budgets.
The Guardian revealed last year that the DfT had taken direct control of the Lower Thames Crossing project, forcing National Highways to give up its role as the lead agency for planning and oversight.
The license to operate the new tunnel and the existing Dartford tunnel about 7 miles to the west is expected to be awarded in 2029 to a private consortium, proposed in perpetuity and overseen by a regulator. The completion date of the works is now planned as 2034.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and transport minister Heidi Alexander are keen to press ahead with the project, which they say is “vital” and will ease congestion on the M25.
But the DfT confirmed it had not yet published an “outline business case”, which would typically be prepared before authorities start large-scale works.
Despite the lack of an initial review document, the government allocated £590 million for the project in its 2025 spending review and a further £891 million in last autumn’s budget. A further increase of £174 million was later given, for a total of £1.48 billion. Highway investment strategy document published in Marchthe total rose to £1.66bn.
The Chancellor described the £891 million allocated in the autumn budget as “the final tranche of government support that will enable the private sector to drive construction and long-term business forward”.
In total the government spent £3.1 billion, including significant funds spent on obtaining planning permission for the Lower Thames Crossing.
The move to allocate extra funding for the project from the wider National Highways budget has sparked criticism, with campaigners accusing the DfT of siphoning money from the highways agency to increase tunnel spending without telling parliament.
Rebecca Lush, roads campaigner Transport Action Network He accused the DfT of seeking funds to fuel a tunnel project that was “rapidly spiraling out of control”.
He said: “In the autumn budget the Chancellor announced the ‘last tranche’ of public funding for the Lower Thames Crossing. But we have now learned that the DfT has committed a further £174m to this privatized road project and has refused to publish the draft business case.
“Cyclic costs and secrecy have all the hallmarks of HS2; LTC already costs more per mile than HS2. While the government is nationalizing the railways, it is also privatizing our roads, which shows the absolute inconsistency in transport policy.”
A DfT spokesperson said the road tunnel was a vital infrastructure project, adding: “We have committed £3.1bn to date to the Lower Thames Crossing, including £891m to complete the publicly funded works needed to unlock private investment.
“Although no decision has been made on how users will be charged, all tolls will be regulated by an independent regulator to keep prices fair for motorists.”
