The decision on the Lower Thames Crossing has been delayed for the third time, and will not be made until 23 May 2025
A Department for Transport statement has said that the decision deadline for the Lower Thames Crossing has been delayed to 23 May 2025.
This is the third time that a decision on the Development Consent Order (DCO) has been delayed. The first planning application was sent in 2020 and resubmitted in 2022.
The Lower Thames Crossing DCO took seven years to develop
The DCO for the Lower Thames Crossing is the largest DCO application the UK has ever seen, having taken seven years and costing around £300m to develop.
The first planning application was sent in 2020, where it was withdrawn 30 days later due to early feedback, and it would not be resubmitted until November 2022.
In January 2023, Balfour Beatty was awarded a £1.2bn contract for construction of roads north of the Thames.
The project was first delayed in March 2023
The project was delayed in March 2023 due to “challenging economic headwinds”, along with delays to HS2.
The Lower Thames Crossing was then delayed again in May 2024 due to the general election, with a decision expected to be made by 04 October 2024.
With still no decision made, the statement was released on 07 October stating that the decision has been delayed again.
The statement reads: “This statement confirms that it is necessary to extend the deadline for a decision on the application by National Highways under the Planning Act 2008, for the A122 (Lower Thames Crossing) Development Consent Order.
“Under section 107(1) of the Planning Act 2008, a decision on an application must be made within 3 months of receipt of the Examining Authority’s report, unless the power, under section 107(3), is exercised to extend the deadline, and a Written Ministerial Statement is made to Parliament announcing the new deadline.
“The deadline for the decision is to be further extended to 23 May 2025 in order to allow more time for the application to be considered further, including any decisions made as part of the spending review.
“The decision to set a new deadline is without prejudice to the decision on whether to grant the application development consent.”
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