Community Impacts Consultation 2021 step by step

We know some of you appreciate a little extra guidance and help with responding to the consultations, so here is our step by step to consultation, which we hope helps!  We’ve done a little differently this time around, which we hope will make it even easier for you!

How to take part

You can of course respond using the HE consultation response form, but please bear in mind that HE have designed the form to get the answers/feedback they want.

Our preferred way to respond is to send our own comments in our own words either via email or post, you don’t have to use the response form :

• POST – Send your comments to FREEPOST LTC CONSULTATION
  The freepost address is the only text needed on the envelope and no stamp is required.
  Highways England have confirmed postal responses dated up to and including Thurs 9th September will be accepted.
• EMAIL – Send your comments to: LTC.CONSULTATION@TRAVERSE.LTD

HE have also stated that you can call 0300 123 5000 (weekdays between 9am and 5pm) to book an appointment to submit your feedback via the phone. Please be aware that appointments are not available every day.

Please do only use one of the official channels above to respond.  HE will not guarantee that responses to any other address or email will be included in their analysis.

Remember we have until 23:59 on Weds 8th September 2021

Where to begin?

We’ve highlighted some questions to ask yourself about some of the main aspects to LTC below.  We hope they will help you decide what you want to comment on, complete with handy links if you want to read up more about any of the topics before commenting.

Please remember to comment in your own words, no copying and pasting, we don’t want HE to try and declare responses as organised group response and count them as one.

Obviously you don’t have to comment on everything, if you don’t want, these are just suggestions. Also you don’t have to comment on them in this particular order, pick and choose and make your response your own!

NB. we will still be adding new info to the website, as we still have more info to publish, but we had to publish this update now rather than leaving it any later, so please do keep an eye out for other info that we’ll be sharing in case you wish to add any other comments on things in your responses, and you can always submit further comments!

Let them know where you stand!

First up, it may sound obvious, but don't forget to make it perfectly clear in your response that you oppose or strongly oppose the proposed Lower Thames Crossing, and explain your reasons.

Main key points

• Are you concerned that LTC wouldn’t solve the problems at the Dartford Crossing?

• Is it good enough that the Dartford Crossing would still be over capacity?

• What are your concerns about how damaging to health and environment the LTC would be?

• What are your concerns about the lack of adequate connections and the extra chaos, congestion and pollution it would create?

• Do you think they should be taking into account the fact that the LTC fails on World Health Organisation standards for PM2.5?

• With the estimated cost now up to £8.2bn of taxpayers money do you think it would be money well spent?

• What are your concerns about 6-7 years of construction, inc 24/7 working?

• What are your concerns that over 5 million tonnes of carbon emissions would be emitted?

Land take

• What do you think about the amount of land they are proposing to take?

• Do you have concerns about how many homes, businesses etc would be lost/impacted?

• If your land/property would be lost/impacted provide as much info as possible about the huge impact that has on you.

• Do you have concerns about how much woodland, including ancient woodland would be taken/impacted?

• Do you have concerns about how much hedgerow would be taken/impacted?

• Do you have concerns about how much agricultural land would be taken/impacted?

• How do you feel about the impact it would have on house building?

• Do you think it's right to building LTC through the area where Queen Elizabeth 1 gave her great speech?

• Do you think the removal of the Tilbury Link Road was a false economy and attempt to improve the benefit cost ratio, since it is progressed as a standalone project now?

Construction

• Do you have concerns about the 24/7 working that is being proposed?

• Do you trust that the 24/7 works would only be when absolutely genuinely needed, or do you think it is just another way to get work done quicker with longer hours?

• Have you got concerns about the huge amount of carbon emissions?

• Do you have concerns about air, noise, light, vibration pollution during construction?

• Are you concerned about the locations of the compounds?

• Do you think it is a good idea for construction traffic to access one of the main construction compounds via a newly proposed access road off the M25 bearing in mind it will need speed restrictions and lane closure on the M25?

• Are you concerned about how many compounds there would be?

• Are you concerned about road closures during construction? What about the impacts to public transport, like bus routes/services?

• Do you have concerns about the risk of Unexploded Ordnance (bombs) during construction?

• What do you think about the proposal to raise North Rd green bridge by 4m?

The operation of the road

• Do you have concerns about air, noise, light, vibration pollution?

• Do you think it acceptable that HE would be removing air and noise pollution monitors, once construction is complete, leaving no means to test air and noise pollution once operational?

• Do you think Electric Vehicles are the panacea that HE suggest?

• Do you have concerns about the operational carbon emissions?

• Do you think there are adequate noise barriers, and are they located where you think they would be needed?

• Do you have concerns about the dimensions of the noise barriers?

• Do you have concerns about how the noise barriers would be constructed, what they would look like, and how beneficial they would be?

• What are your concerns about the fact HE are proposing the use of 'smart' motorway technology for the LTC?

• Do you have concerns about the amount of forecast accidents that would result in deaths and serious injuries?

• Do you think it would be easy to navigate and use the LTC, or do you have concerns over the complexity of the junctions?
• What do you think of the junctions? A127/M25/LTC | A13/A1089/LTC | A2/M2/LTC

• Do you think there would be adequate connections?

• What do you think about the Stanford Detour?

• What do you think of the built in bottlenecks? M25/LTC | A13 | A2/M2

• What are your concerns about how traffic would migrate between the two crossings when there are incidents?

• Are you concerned that it would not be viable for new bus routes due to the lack of adequate connections?

• Are you concerned that the proposals do not allow for any Non Motorised Users?

• Do you think that a free service to assist cyclists to cross the river, like at the Dartford Crossing, should be in place at the LTC?
• What do you think about user charges?

• Do you think HE should be taking traffic data for the proposed London Resort theme park into account in their planning of LTC?

Mitigation

• Do you think HE are proposing adequate mitigation?

• Do you think the 'new parks' are of any real benefit to communities?

• Do you think there would be adequate planting?

• Have you got concerns over who would take care of any planting and whether it would actually be taken care of?

• Do you have concerns over how wildlife translocation would take place?

• Do you have concerns over the impact moving wildlife to new locations would have on the existing ecosystems in those new locations?

• Is there anything else you would like to see considered as mitigation?

New Parks

• What do you think of the proposed 'new parks'?

• Do you think the new parks are just an attempt by HE to greenwash LTC?

• Do you think the parks are just a convenient way to dump all the spoil from the tunnelling as close as possible to the tunnel portals?

• What do you think about the fact the land forms at Tilbury Fields would be so high, either 16.5 meters or 22.5 meters high?

• Do you have concerns that the land forms will cause flooding in other areas, since they would block the flood plain?

• Is it acceptable for farmers/us to lose agricultural land so that HE can add these parks in the way they propose?

• Do you think it will be healthy for us to use the parks with the pollution from the tunnels/road so close?

Hole Farm Community Woodland

• Do you question whether the proposed Hole Farm Community Woodland is actually part of LTC or not?

• Is this just another attempt by HE to greenwash the LTC project?

• How can this woodland be considered part of the LTC project if HE say it will go ahead regardless of whether they get permission for LTC or not?

• How would people get to the proposed community woodland, since there's no public transport, isn't it just encouraging more traffic?

• Is it right for HE to propose mitigation in an area so far away from the actual LTC route?

• Do you question whether this community woodland, which is proposed to be managed by Forestry England (a Government body),  is an attempt to garner support from them for LTC, despite the damage it would do to Forestry England's Thames Chase Community Forest?

• On the topic of Thames Chase, do you think it acceptable for LTC to destroy part of a community forest that was planted because of the impacts of the M25?

Environmental impacts

• What are your concerns about the estimate of 5 million tonnes of carbon emissions?

• What are your concerns about pollution (air, noise, light, vibration)?

• Are you concerned about impacts to wildlife and habitats?

• Is it acceptable to be destroying so much greenbelt land?

• What are your concerns about the loss of so much woodland?

• Do you think it is acceptable to destroy ancient woodland?

• Are you concerned that HE are refusing to consider The Wilderness as an ancient woodland despite evidence suggesting it has been continuously wooded for hundreds of years?

• Do you consider it acceptable that so much hedgerow would be destroyed?

• Do you have concerns about flooding?

• Are you concerned about water pollution from the run off from both construction and the road once opened?

• Is it acceptable to destroy/impact solar farms?

• How do you feel about the loss of so much agricultural land?

• What do you think about the impacts to special category land?

Health impacts

• Do you think that the proposed LTC would be good for our health and well-being?

• Do you have concerns over the worsening of air pollution and the associated illnesses?

• Are you concerned over the impacts of construction would have on your health and well-being? The stress, noise, light, air pollution, disruption etc.

• Are you concerned about the stress it would cause living so close to LTC if it goes ahead? The extra traffic, lack of adequate connections causing more chaos, congestion and pollution.

• What are your concerns about the impact LTC would have on local schools?

• Are you, your family/friends already being impacted by the stress of dealing with LTC issues? Explain how it's affecting you now.

• How would the impacts to leisure impact your health and well-being?

Changes since the last consultation

• What do you think about the proposal to add 3 arable fields to the development boundary, to the north of Chalk for environmental mitigation during construction?

• Do you have any issue with the proposal to install a temporary drainage pipeline from the southern tunnel entrance to the River Thames, which would be carried out in a field behind the houses on the north side of Lower Higham Road?

• What do you think about the 'new parks'?

• Do you agree with the extra lane being added to the slip road between the LTC and the A13/Orsett Cock?

• What do you think about the fact that HE are no longer providing replacement land for the loss at the Orsett Showground?

• What do you think about them taking less are from Tarmac, but more vegetation and agricultural land for utilities works in the Linford area?

• What do you think about the extension of the development boundary to fields east and west of the A1089 Dock Approach Road for utilities access rights?

• What do you think about the proposed ditch network and water vole habitat in the Mardyke area?

• What do you think about the reduction in size of some of the compensatory flood storage in the Mardyke area?

Do you think HE have considered our previous responses properly?

What did you think of the 'You said, we did' section of the consultation materials? If like us you think it was more a case of 'We said, and HE did nothing' then please let them know, and explain why.

Have the consultations been adequate?

• What did you think of this consultation?

• Do you think there was enough promotion of the consultation?

• Do you think it was acceptable that HE did not have printed consultation materials available until a week after consultation started?

• What did you think of the consultation packs?

• Do you think the consultation materials were clear and informative?

• Did you find the maps, including the interactive map, easy to use?

• What did you think of any consultation events you attended?

• Were the staff able to answer your questions?

• What did you think of the webinars, if you attended?

• Were you able to get adequate info from the webinars, and answers to your questions?

• If you called HE for info during consultation was the experience satisfactory?

• Did you notice errors, misspelt names, inadequacies in the consultation materials?

• Do you think the consultation was long enough?

• Do you think it was adequate to hold the consultation during Summer Holidays?

• Were some of the consultation events held too close to the end of consultation?

• Do you think Chadwell St Mary, Stanford/Corringham, and other areas that did not have events listed in the official consultation events list should have been included from the beginning?

• Do you feel that Stanford/Corringham wards should have had Ward Impact Summaries like all the other impacted wards?

• What other comments do you have about the adequacy of the LTC Community Impacts Consultation?

• What do you think of the previous consultations?

• Is it acceptable that some things reported as errors in previous consultation have not been corrected in this consultation?

Any other comments you have!

• Do you think that the proposed route is the best option?

• Do you think Option A14 or another alternative would be better?

We've tried to highlight some of the issues and concerns that you may wish to include in your response. However, please remember that it is your response and you should include anything and everything that you personally want to feedback to HE about the proposed LTC and consultation.

Remember to ensure you use one of the official channels to submit your Lower Thames Crossing Community Impacts Consultation response by 23:59 on Wednesday 8th September 2021.