Drivers' tolls could triple at planned Lower Thames Crossing, say campaigners
Tolls on motorists to cross the Thames east of London could triple if the Lower Thames Crossing is built using private finance, campaigners have claimed.
Plans for the £9.2bn crossing were signed off in March and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the government was exploring options to privately finance the project, which is Britain's biggest roadbuilding scheme.
The road tunnel between Essex and Kent will have tolls matching the charge for the Dartford Crossing, where M25 motorway traffic crosses the Thames.
Cars pay £2.50 to travel via Dartford, but analysis from the campaign group Transport Action Network (TAN) suggests that tolls would need to be about £8.10, and £14 for a lorry, to cover financing and operating costs.
National Highways, which is leading the work on the crossing, said the figures were untrue and that it expected the tolls to remain in line with present levels, adjusted for inflation.
The Department for Transport declined to comment. Neither the government nor National Highways has yet set out detailed financial modelling for a privately financed toll scheme.
National Highways' latest financial statement said the long-delayed crossing would cost at least £9.2bn, of which £1.2bn has already been spent on design and planning work. The public-private option under consideration would cost £9.4bn, including £6.3bn of private investment.
Under that option, a 'regulated private entity' would pay for construction and then take the toll revenue from both the Dartford and Lower Thames crossings. The heavily congested Dartford Crossing generated £221.5m in tolls and penalty charges in 2023-24, with £134.9m in operating costs.
About a 30% increase in paying traffic is expected once both crossings are open and, according to TAN's analysis, a £6.3bn investment would need to charge significantly higher tolls to cover the annual running costs and debt financing.
Chris Todd, the director of TAN, said: 'Politicians have given the impression that building the Lower Thames Crossing will be pain-free. In addition to the construction chaos, the huge drain on the public finances, the cost of private finance is likely to be high.
'On even the cheapest PFI [private financial initiative] deal, the tolls at Dartford and on the new crossing will have to treble,' said Todd. 'That's a huge hit for the travelling public. Most people will still have to use the Dartford Crossing yet will be paying three times what they are now, for very little noticeable benefit.'
National Highways dismissed the analysis as purely speculative. A spokesperson said: 'These numbers are untrue. As the planning application for the project made clear, charges will be applied at the same rate as the Dartford Crossing.'
While environmental campaigners argue that the Lower Thames Crossing will worsen pollution and congestion, business and logistics groups have welcomed the formal approval granted in March by the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, after many delays.
Sign up to Business Today
Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning
after newsletter promotion
The project will comprise 14 miles of road, including 2.6-mile tunnels under the Thames near Thurrock, Essex, allowing more cars and HGVs to travel to and from Channel ports via the M25 east of London.
Declan Pang, the policy director of the Road Haulage Association, said it was a 'critical infrastructure project to ease congestion and improve freight journey reliability', but added: 'It's essential that tolls are kept to a minimum to avoid placing further financial strain on hauliers and ensure the route is used effectively.'
Natalie Chapman, the head of public affairs at Logistics UK, said the approval of the crossing was 'excellent news' given the delays to traffic at Dartford. She added: 'Industry recognises that road charges are necessary to fund new infrastructure, but tolls need to be reasonable, as industry pays disproportionately more towards construction costs than private road users.'
Many vehicles have, however, been charged substantially more to cross the Thames since similar mirror tolls were enforced last month on the new Silvertown tunnel, a mile-long crossing in east London, and the nearby Blackwall tunnel, which was previously free to use.
Transport for London said the tolls, of £4 for a car, were needed on both tunnels to deter traffic from taking an alternative cheaper route.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
UK government signals it will not force tech firms to disclose how they train AI
Campaigners have accused ministers of lying to parliament and the creative industries after the government signalled it would not force AI companies to disclose how they train their models. Ministers are holding firm in a standoff with the House of Lords, which has called for artists to be offered immediate copyright protection against artificial intelligence companies. Peers voted by 221 to 116 on Wednesday to insist on an amendment to the data bill that would force AI firms to be transparent about what copyrighted material they use to train their models. In an amendment tabled on Friday, the government dismissed the Lords' request and reiterated its promise to publish an economic impact assessment and technical reports on the future of AI and copyright regulation. Beeban Kidron, the cross-bench peer and film director who has campaigned on behalf of the industry, said during Wednesday's debate that she would 'accept anything that the Commons does' after this week. 'I will not stand in front of your Lordships again and press our case,' she said. But the News Media Association (NMA), which represents publishers including the Guardian, said peers could table further amendments to the data bill when it returns to the Lords next Wednesday. Industry figures said the government was acting in bad faith by not addressing the Lords' concerns and called for it to make further amendments of its own before MPs vote on it on Tuesday. Kidron said: 'The government has repeatedly taken all protections for UK copyrights holders out of the data bill. In doing so they have shafted the creative industries, and they have proved willing to decimate the UK's second biggest industrial sector. They have lied to parliament, and they are lying to the sector.' She said the government's action 'adds another sector to the growing number that have an unbridgeable gap of trust with the government'. Owen Meredith, chief executive of the NMA, said: 'the government's refusal to listen to the strong view of the Lords … risks undermining the legislative process. 'There is still time for the government to do the right thing, and take transparency powers in this bill. This would be a key step towards rebuilding trust with a £126bn industry.' Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion The government's approach to copyright has drawn the ire of major creative artists and organisations including Paul McCartney, Kate Bush and the National Theatre, with Elton John describing the situation as an 'existential issue' this week. Opponents of the plans have warned that even if the attempts to insert clauses into the data bill fail, the government could be challenged in the courts over the proposed changes. The consultation on copyright changes, which is due to produce its findings before the end of the year, contains four options: to let AI companies use copyrighted work without permission, alongside an option for artists to 'opt out' of the process; to leave the situation unchanged; to require AI companies to seek licences for using copyrighted work; and to allow AI firms to use copyrighted work with no opt-out for creative companies and individuals. Kyle has said the copyright-waiver-plus-opt-out scenario is no longer the government's preferred option, but Kidron's amendments have attempted to head off that option by effectively requiring tech companies to seek licensing deals for any content that they use to train their AI models.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Katie Price faces wait over further bankruptcy-related proceedings
Katie Price faces a wait to see whether more of her income will go directly towards paying off money owed under her two bankruptcies. The former glamour model was declared bankrupt in November 2019 and again in March last year, and the bankruptcies have since been discharged. However, Price, who did not attend the hearing and was not represented, still owes money as a result of the bankruptcies, and she had previously reached a voluntary agreement over her debts. On Friday, barrister Darragh Connell, representing trustees, told a specialist court in London she has not paid the £12,500 a month. He asked Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Sebastian Prentis to make an income payments order, which means money would go from any salary towards Price's outstanding debt. The order relates to 10 companies. However, the judge asked for more evidence to be provided to the court about Price's 'reasonable domestic needs'. Last August, a judge ruled that Price's income from social media platform TikTok be suspended as part of efforts to pay off her debts. And in February last year, a judge at a specialist bankruptcy court ordered that she must pay 40% of her monthly income from the adult entertainment website OnlyFans until February 2027. The next hearing will take place later in the year, on a date to be confirmed.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Ange Postecoglou departs Tottenham in glory but sacking him was the logical choice
He will always have Bilbao. The manager who, in his forties, was in charge of Whittlesea Zebras in the Melbourne suburbs won a European trophy 16 years later. No other manager has had a journey quite like Ange Postecoglou 's. But then no one has had a season the same as Tottenham's, the club who recorded the lowest ever league finish of any side to lift continental silverware. It was why the emotional choice would have been to keep Postecoglou. The rational one, delivered 16 days after Europa League glory, was to dismiss him. 'One of the toughest decisions we have had to make,' Spurs said in their explanation, and easy a target as chairman Daniel Levy can be, he merits some understanding in this instance. Postecoglou ended a 17-year wait for a major honour and dragged Tottenham to a historic low. The impression in his heady first few months was that he was a manager who brought back the Spurs way. Tottenham's traditions involved being a cup team; but never this much of one, never as hopeless in the league. The ignominy of coming 17th could only partly be explained by a focus on Europe; they were 13th domestically even before playing a knockout tie in the continental competition. The probability is that any successor – and Thomas Frank is the frontrunner – will finish higher in the table but not win anything. Postecoglou's bravado in saying he always won something in his second season was justified and he called his sophomore year with Spurs 'outstanding'; but it also stood out for many a wrong reason. Tottenham have never lost more league games in a campaign. Their 22 defeats included 10 on home soil; the supporters who pay for famously expensive tickets even saw Ipswich and Leicester win in N17. Their tally of 38 points was – if three were awarded for a victory in every season – Spurs' lowest since 1914-15. It was underachievement on an extraordinary scale, given what is probably the seventh biggest wage bill, a gifted group of players and, despite Levy's famous frugality, an outlay on transfers of around £400m over the last couple of years. Feat as it was to claim European silverware, especially in the context of Tottenham's inability to win anything since 2008, it only required one remarkable result, the away win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals. Even the final was against a Manchester United team who came 15th in England. So Tottenham had to conduct an assessment of Postecoglou's reign and the whole season. They cited his record over the 66 league games that followed the heady beginning of the first 10 that produced 26 points and a table-topping start. Those 66 matches produced just 78 points, an average of just 1.18 per game. Of the 17 clubs in the division throughout that time, only Wolves took fewer points, and by a mere one. Spurs conceded 116 goals in that time, 1.76 per match. It underlined a design flaw in Angeball: an openness to the counter-attack. The warning signs were there in his debut campaign when, individually, the first-choice back four and goalkeeper all had fine seasons and yet Spurs were breached 61 times. When Angeball was at its best it was brilliant; the 4-0 evisceration of Manchester City this season was football at a very high level. Yet there was not a consistent formula to win games. He was not the first managerial import to struggle against the Premier League 's middle-ranking clubs, to discover its strength in depth. Postecoglou also had other issues. He was irritated by suggestions his training and tactics injured his players but Tottenham struggled to compete on multiple fronts; they won the Europa League by sparing Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven Premier League duties. But, again, that blueprint scarcely felt repeatable as they enter a Champions League season. Tottenham's league form, ultimately, was impossible to justify. Postecoglou instead seemed to believe that his were the only team to suffer from injuries, as though everyone else could be judged by their results, but Spurs should not be. There were the car-crash post-match interviews of a manager who seemed to regard questioning of his methods and style of play as illegitimate. On a personal level, he nevertheless merits considerable sympathy. The Europa League gives him a place in history: the third Tottenham manager, alongside the great Bill Nicholson and Keith Burkinshaw, to win European silverware, the first Australian coach to do so with any club. He released a dignified statement on his departure. 'My overriding emotion is one of pride,' he said. But one of the questions his employers had to answer was whether it would be substantially different if they persevered with Postecoglou for another year. To reframe it, and despite the Europa League, would another Premier League club appoint Postecoglou now? After all, if he took Tottenham to 17th, logic may dictate he could relegate a mid-table club. If many a managerial appointment is the opposite the previous one, it is notable those who have seemed on Spurs' radar – Andoni Iraola, Marco Silva, Oliver Glasner and Frank – have found ways to get results with lesser resources in England, to punch above their weight with the mid-table teams. But as he goes, Postecoglou can argue he was the antithesis of managers like Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte. Because none of them took a trophy to Tottenham. And he did.
