Nature hating government gives green light to the Lower Thames Crossing

We moved from Thurrock in Essex down to Keynsham in Somerset in July 2022. After a slow start, my activism down here has started to develop nicely, with a slowly growing list of reliable allies and local projects we’re getting stuck into. It feels like the years of activism and rabble rousing when we were back in Thurrock are becoming a distant memory. As it should do after moving to a new location and effectively starting all over again.

However, sometimes things happen back in Thurrock that cannot pass without comment. One such event was the announcement made by the Labour government on the morning of Tuesday 25 March that the green light has been given for work to commence on the construction of the Lower Thames Crossing. This is how the reaction to that announcement has been covered in the local media: 'Sickening, madness, devastating and misleading' – caustic views on government decision to start work on Lower Thames Crossing – Thurrock Nub News | 25.3.25.

When you read through the piece from Thurrock Nub News, one thing that will become abundantly clear is that the opposition to the Lower Thames Crossing cuts across the political spectrum. Labour run Thurrock Council think the crossing will do nothing to improve traffic congestion issues in the region and that it will have a detrimental effect upon the environment. The Thurrock Labour MP, Jen Craft has concerns about the adverse impact on air quality the crossing and the associated approach roads will have. Tory and Reform opposition councillors are opposed to it.

When we were active back in Thurrock, the one thing that struck us about the opposition to the Lower Thames Crossing was how it went across and beyond the political spectrum. I vividly remember attending a packed public meeting in cavernous hall at Tilbury Riverside where everyone from the hard left in the area through to what was then a cohort of UKIP councillors were vehemently expressing their opposition to the crossing. I also remember at the end of the meeting handing out a special anti-crossing edition of the somewhat anarchistic Heckler paper to UKIP councillors who were enthusiastically wanting to read it. Strange but interesting times. Not least because it showed how there are times when conventional political labels could be pretty much redundant in the face of existential threats and that people can unite across divides.

We certainly had a lot to say about the Lower Thames Crossing and the arrogant conduct of National Highways when we were living back in Thurrock. These are the posts we published about this back in 2020 and 2021:

‘No impact’…really? 11.8.21

Pressure pays… 4.8.21

Highways England and manners – two mutually exclusive concepts 16.7.21

Any chance of some tree planting actually taking place in Thurrock? 3.6.21

Highways England up to their usual tricks… 25.5.21

Jumping the gun are we? 4.4.21

It’s not a done deal 6.12.20

A small victory and a possible glimmer of light? 21.11.20

Highways England jumping the gun 15.11.20

That’s a lot of posts about one issue, particularly when you take into account what else was being done to us in 2020 and 2021! So, as you can imagine, the announcement on Tuesday 25.3 that the green light had been given to the construction of the Lower Thames crossing was something that hit me quite hard. It feels pretty personal and raw to me.

The footprint of the approach road from the M25 near Ockendon, across the Mar Dyke valley, past Orsett and right by Chadwell St. Mary on the way down to the tunnel entrance will take out a lot of productive farmland. Part of a small ancient woodland near Ockendon will be lost. The impact on an already fragile landscape will be severe. The traffic noise as it sweeps past Orsett, Chadwell St. Mary and Linford will be horrendous. With the huge amount of road traffic going in and out of the superport at London Gateway near Corringham, there are already issues with traffic noise and poor air quality in the east of Thurrock – the crossing will only serve to exacerbate them.

Pretty much from the outset after Starmer’s Labour party won the general election in July last year, it was clear that his government was prioritising economic growth at all costs, regardless of the impact on the environment and human health. This is a government that has more or less openly admitted that it hates nature. Even while still in opposition, Starmer pretty much admitted that he hated environmentalists: ‘I hate tree huggers’: How Starmer apparently exploded over Labour’s green policy – Archie Mitchell | Independent | 10.7.23. So, while the news about the Lower Thames Crossing being given the green light is a massive body blow, it doesn’t come as any surprise.

We have a government that has pretty much sold itself to the likes of BlackRock: Getting into bed with BlackRock – at what cost? – Claudia Webbe | Morning Star | 4.12.24. The Labour government exists to serve their corporate masters while we, the populace, have to suck up the consequences. Even if those consequences destroy the environment, take out productive farmland and damage human health, physical and mental. We’re forced to live in an increasingly stress inducing society, where wanting to take time out to reconnect with nature and heal, is viewed as an abhorrent aberration by a government whose only concern is boosting the bottom line for their corporate masters.

So what comes next? Well, with regard to the Lower Thames Crossing, as we no longer live in Thurrock, what happens next is down to the residents. Whether they accept the decision with resignation or, decide that some militant direct action may be in order is at the moment, anyone’s guess. If there is militant direct action, given the demographics of Thurrock, it won’t be the ‘usual suspects’ getting involved, that’s for sure! This could lead to some interesting developments…

As for me, living to the south east of Bristol, when I heard the news about the Lower Thames Crossing, one of my initial thoughts was that at some point, the plans for a ring road to the south of Bristol may well come back into play again: The new ring road and suburb that will change South Bristol forever – Tristan Cork | Bristol Post | 19.11.18. Given that one end of it could finish up just over a mile from where I now live in Keynsham, this has the potential to get personal for me.

At some point, people threatened by the environmental and health impacts of Starmer’s nature hating, economic growth in service of his corporate masters at any cost are going to start kicking back. As already mentioned, it won’t be the so called ‘usual suspects’ doing this. Opposition will cut across and beyond conventional political categories. Some people may feel uncomfortable with this – I personally welcome it as it is a case of the 99% of us against the 1%. However, that opposition emerges, it will have to be conscious of the fact that Starmer’s government are becoming increasingly and openly authoritarian. They will not hesitate to demonise and then crack down on anyone opposing their plans. Things have the potential to get very ‘interesting’…

Direct action in the 1990s against the construction of the Newbury bypass