As the weekend of the 29th November came to bare there was a quiet relief among the villages running along the Thames between Medway and Gravesend. The weekend brought the start of roadwork’s that marked the beginning of the scheme for the Dartford Crossing to alleviate pressure on congestion by clearing the toll booths and replacing them with an automated pay system.

The brief sigh of relief was at the fact that the alleviation of traffic that bugs the Dartford Crossing would mean a second lower river crossing would be postponed for a while at least. Parts of Gravesend, Chalk, Shorne and Higham all lay on potential crossing routes with three out of the possible six original proposed plans all intruding on the towns and parishes and the lower Thames floodplains home to much wildlife.

Any of these routes would’ve resulted in disaster for the people living in the areas who would either have been forced to move from their homes or been disturbed by the constant flow of outer-London traffic. What made it worse was the purchase of land at the Swanscombe Peninsula to build a Paramount Theme Park. This move ruled out Option B of the plans and therefore made it increasingly likely that one of the three threatening options would be picked, and with the justification of a major road network to support then gigantic attraction labelled “London’s Disney World” by some.

However, the announcement by the authorities controlling the Dartford Crossing was met by a silent cheer of victory by many in the area who now believe another crossing won’t happen for many years to come. Will Hoiles, a village member of Higham whose house lies directly under Option C, D1 and D2, is confident that his home and his village will be safe for many years to come; “I’m delighted at the news, especially as we were considering moving away, and that would’ve been well away from where I go to school and my family work as all the options practically engulf the whole of the village.”

The silent cheers and quiet sighs of relief are for a reason. If the Dartford Crossing solution doesn’t work, then consequently it is only a matter of time before a second lower river crossing plan is explored again and this time put into action. Therefore, the prominent campaign of NO to the proposed Thames Crossing, playing on Kent County Council’s acronym of KCC by labelling it “Keeps Concreting Countryside”, may have won the battle but they may not win the war. 

By Andrew Warner, Gravesend Grammar School