Thurrock Council Jan 2023 LTC motion

Thurrock Council’s LTC Task Force Chair, Cllr Fraser Massey put forward a motion on the LTC to Full Council on 25th Jan 2023.

The motion put forward by Cllr Massey was as follows:

Members may be aware that National Highways have recently submitted, and had approved, their Development Consent Order for the Lower Thames Crossing scheme, to move forward to the next stage in the Planning Inspectorate process. The LTC Task Force seeks assurances that the Council is committed to opposing the scheme as currently presented and promote this message through Council communications channels.

LTC Task Force Vice Chair, Cllr John Kent also put forward an amendment to the motion to add the following to Cllr Massey’s motion

“Council also calls on cabinet to identify sufficient resources to ensure effective opposition to the proposals.”

 

Here is a recording of the meeting ready to play at the LTC motion from the Council’s Youtube channel

TCAG comment

We are grateful to Cllr Massey for bringing this LTC motion on behalf of the LTC Task Force to Full Council.  And to each and every member who spoke and to all who voted unanimously in opposition to the proposed £10bn+++ Lower Thames Crossing.

As a co-opted member of the LTC Task Force committee we thank those who gave kind words about the work the Task Force carry out.  Also to Cllr Georgette Polley for her kind words specifically about the work carried out by us as an action group.

As those who spoke stated, the proposed LTC would be hugely destructive and harmful, and would have a huge negative impact for so many reasons, if it goes ahead.

The council’s LTC team have done some great work, and we hope that a solution can be found to ensure the resources needed, to ensure they can continue working on the council’s representations throughout the DCO process, is found as quickly as possible.

From what was said at the meeting it appears that options are being considered and approached, such as asking National Highways to up their funding to the council to make representation in the DCO.  After all the funding for the council representation at DCO would not be necessary were it not for NH proposing the LTC through Thurrock.

As we have mentioned on social media we believe that the funding from NH usually reduces once a project reaches DCO stage, which is what appears to have happened.  Of course the serious financial position Thurrock Council are in, due to non LTC related matters, and the measures that are rightly now in place, add considerably to the problem in hand regarding resources for fighting LTC.

It seems that despite some councillors not supporting the amendment by Cllr John Kent, calling on cabinet to identify sufficient resources to ensure effective opposition to LTC, the council appear to be keen to identify sufficient resources to ensure the council’s position in opposing the LTC in DCO.

Council Leader, Cllr Mark Coxshall clarified that under the new decision making process such a decision would not be made by the Essex County Council(ECC) Government appointed Commissioner for Thurrock.  There had been concerns voiced since ECC support LTC.  The council will need to put forward a best value for money case to continue funding LTC opposition work, on the grounds that the amount already spent on fighting LTC would be wasted if the work was not completed, and in light of the consequences of not continuing the fight when it would have such a negative impact on Thurrock, and so many oppose it.  We are trying to seek clarity on who would make that decision, and if or when that case will be submitted.

Those speaking at the meeting suggest that the council are seeking a way to fund and continue with the work by the council’s LTC team, which we are obviously very happy about.

We are pleased to see that the unanimous opposition from all Thurrock Councillors to the proposed £10bn+++ Lower Thames Crossing remains strong.  Together we are stronger!

 

Related

LTC Task Force info and meetings – click here

Highways News – Thurrock Council’s opposition to LTC remain unanimous (Jan 2023) – click here