New Lower Thames Crossing Development Boundary July 2018
On 10 July 2018, Highways England published a revised development boundary to replace the previous red line boundary. The revised boundary is available to view at https://highwaysengland.co.uk/lower-thames-crossing-in-my-area/ This shows the land they want to protect from conflicting development in case it is needed for constructing or operating the Lower Thames Crossing. They have asked local planning authorities to protect the land inside the development boundary from any new development that could potentially conflict with the scheme, and to advise them if any planning applications are submitted within 200 metres of the development boundary. At the same time, they contacted homeowners and land owners who may be directly affected to inform them of the latest changes to the development boundary. Since the last boundary was published in November 2017, Highways England say they have been working to better understand the impact of the scheme design on the environment and local communities, and the changes to the boundary are a result of this. They have identified areas that they think they might need, to manage flood risk and minimise the impact of the scheme on the local people, businesses and environment. Most of the additional land in the development boundary is for environmental mitigation, it is not the project itself getting bigger. The main reasons for the changes are given as: Environmental mitigation – to help mitigate the impacts of the proposed road. For example, replanting areas of woodland or creating new wildlife habitats. Flood compensation – potential areas where they may need to lower the level of the existing land to replace flood zone that will be affected. Utility diversions –there are various utilities that may need to be diverted, such as overhead electricity pylons and gas pipelines. They have included land for diverting these within the revised development boundary. Flood … Read more