1 December 2010

Kent Launches Growth without Gridlock

Today we revealed Kent’s big transport priorities and significant new funding opportunities to pay for them in 'Growth without Gridlock', our landmark transport delivery plan for the county.

We recognise the days of big funding streams from Government are over and we have identified significant, new additional revenue streams for the country as a whole. If just a small proportion of this new income were to be used in Kent, we could fund all our major transport improvements and deliver better road, rail, bus and air transport across the county.

New funding sources would include toll income from the Thames Crossings, Foreign Lorry Road User charging, the banning of HGV ‘belly tanks’, Tax Increment Financing for new infrastructure and Port Landing Charges.

Together with new freedoms and new local transport powers, these innovative new sources of funding would pay for Kent’s top transport priorities including a Third Thames Crossing, the ‘bifurcation’ of port traffic from Dover along both the M2 and M20 corridors and the long-awaited dualling of the A21.

In difficult economic times, we have no option but to do things differently. All of the schemes identified in 'Growth without Gridlock' will be vital to unlocking new jobs, new business and boosting new economic growth in Kent.

A Third Thames Crossing to unlock growth in the Thames Gateway

The case for a new Thames crossing is overwhelming. We need this to help develop growth in the Thames Gateway, reduce congestion and help improve the local economy by providing access to a potential 58,000 jobs and 53,000 homes. The current crossing suffers frequent congestion and overloading with at least 15 major incidents and 5 bridge closures a year. This costs the UK economy some £40 million a year and it will get worse.

With Essex County Council, we have jointly commissioned an independent report into the feasibility of a Third Thames crossing. This report by MVA/Giffords/Capita looks at the location and recommends that it should be between Chadwell in Essex and east of Gravesend, which is our preferred option. We then commissioned KPMG to look at the economic benefits, which concluded that a new crossing east of Gravesend would create around 6,000 jobs in North Kent and South Essex and contribute £334 million to the local economy per annum.

To build a new crossing is a ‘no-brainer’. We must now get on with it.

A long-term solution to Operation Stack

Delays caused by Stack cost the UK haulage industry £1 million a day and significantly reduce the attractiveness of East Kent as a place to do business. The management of Operation Stack already costs Kent Police and the Highways Agency some £3million. We are determined to avert this scenario and have identified a suitable site for a lorry park between Junctions 10 and 11 of the M20.

Dualling the A21

Devolving Highways Agency budgets and powers to local transport authorities would provide a cheaper and faster way of delivering strategic road infrastructure. The Kent economy has suffered repeatedly from delays to Highways Agency projects, including the dualling of the A21 between Tonbridge and Pembury. Although work was finally due to start on this scheme in 2011, it has now been delayed once more beyond 2015 pending further consideration by the Department for Transport and will therefore not be completed in time for the opening of the new Pembury Hospital.
We believe that the scheme can be delivered for less than half its current cost through local project management and procurement.

‘Bifurcation’ of traffic from Dover and the Channel Ports

A Third Thames Crossing offers a valuable opportunity to implement a system of ‘bifurcation’ for traffic heading to and from the Channel Ports.

Under this system, vehicles travelling to the Continent by way of Dover’s Eastern Docks would be encouraged to route via the Lower Thames Crossing and the M2/A2, while those travelling through the Western Docks or the Channel Tunnel would be routed via the Dartford Crossing and the M20/A20. These improvements would greatly increase the efficiency of Kent’s motorway and trunk road network thereby facilitating the growth of Ashford, Dover and Maidstone by freeing up road capacity in the Channel Corridor.

Developing a Thanet Parkway Station

A Thanet Parkway station would support economic growth in Thanet and accelerate development of Kent International Airport at Manston, while improved line speeds between Ashford and Ramsgate would benefit all local rail users. With an estimated 1,000 new jobs generated per million new air passengers, these improvements would help create 6,000 jobs by 2033.

To deliver true growth and prosperity we need radical plans and innovative new ways to fund them. The schemes identified in this programme for growth form a collective package which, if delivered in its totality, will deliver benefits on a scale far greater than the sum of its parts.

We will do this working side-by-side with business, and we stand ready to take our delivery plan forward as an early pilot of the government’s localist agenda. The county is at an economic crossroads and we need to get on and deliver these improvements now.