Agenda and minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Offices, New Road, Grays, Essex, RM17 6SL. View directions
Contact: Lucy Tricker, Democratic Services Officer Email: direct.democracy@thurrock.gov.uk
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Andrew Jefferies; Westley Mercer, the Thurrock Business Board Representative; and Anna Eastgate, Assistant Director LTC and Project Delivery. |
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To approve as a correct record the minutes of the Lower Thames Crossing Task Force meeting held on 15 February 2021. Minutes: The minutes from the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) meeting held on 15 February 2021 were approved as a true and correct record. |
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Items of Urgent Business To receive additional items that the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency, in accordance with Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972. Minutes: There were no items of urgent business. |
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Declaration of Interests Minutes: No interests were declared. |
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Environmental Impact Assessment Update PDF 259 KB Minutes: The Senior Consultant introduced the report
and stated that it was divided into four sections: stakeholder
engagement; Thurrock’s past concerns; Thurrock’s
current concerns; and next steps. He explained that Highways
England (HE) were currently revising the Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA), but that the table on the front page of the
report outlined the process so far. He stated that the eleven topic
chapters of the EIA document had been received from HE in July
2020, and the other technical documents had been received in August
2020. He described how Thurrock had commented on all these
documents in October 2020, and HE had responded to these comments
in February 2021, which Thurrock’s LTC team were still
digesting and comparing to the EIA, within the Development Consent
Order (DCO) Version 1. The Senior Consultant explained that the
second page of the report included a table, which outlined the 11
topics that formed the EIA on the left-axis, compared to the stages
of reporting on the top-axis. He stated that the team could then
use this table to understand the Council’s issues with the
EIA at that time. He explained that the table used a RAG system of
reporting, with green boxes indicating that this area was
satisfactory with no action needed; amber indicating there further
work to be undertaken; red indicating there were some matters that
require amendment; and purple indicating there were some priority
matters that require urgent attention. He stated that all red and
purple areas had been summarised in section four of the report, but
many of the issues were within the amber category. He stated that
those areas graded red or purple had been graded based on the
information received in October 2020, and some progress had been
made on some of these areas since then. |
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Health Impacts Update PDF 150 KB Minutes: The Senior Consultant introduced the report
and stated that it was formed of three parts: process; concerns;
and next steps. He explained that the HEqIA draft had been received
on 3 August 2020, and Thurrock had responded on 1 October 2020 with
their comments. He explained that HE had responded to
Thurrock’s comments in February 2021, and the team were
currently looking at HE’s response and comparing these to the
HEqIA submitted at the DCO Version 1. He stated that this should be
completed in a few weeks, and the team would then meet with HE to
discuss any concerns. He then described how CIPHAG had held nine
meetings between November 2018 and July 2020, and this was now
being re-started on a more transparent basis, and included all
relevant local authorities and Public Health England. The Senior
Consultant explained that the CIPHAG group were currently deciding
on who would chair the meeting, but stated that HE senior
management would be involved to ensure decisions could be made and
move the meetings forward. He mentioned that there would be 4-5
more CIPHAG meetings, with the first one being at the end of March
to examine outstanding issues. He also explained that the Public
Health Strategic Lead was currently garnering support from other
local authorities for a separate independent audit into the HEqIA
from the DCO Version 1, and this would be an ongoing process over
the next few months. The Senior Consultant explained that Thurrock
currently had concerns regarding elements of the baseline data,
methodology, results, and mitigation; for example air quality data,
access to open spaces, and noise and vibration levels. |
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Minutes: The Senior Consultant introduced the report
and stated that this had come from a request from Councillor
Muldowney at December’s Task Force meeting, and set out the
measures for CO2 emissions that had been included in the Hatch
report, which had been published on the Council’s website at:
Lower Thames Crossing proposals | Thames crossing |
Thurrock Council. He stated that the Hatch report
included 23 direct mitigation measures; 12 council-led support
measures; and, 22 legacy measures; and, and 2 of these related
particularly to CO2 emissions. He stated that these two mitigation
measures included the establishment of ultra-low emissions vehicle
(ULEV) targets on the LTC, and a carbon off-setting plan through
the introduction of willow planting. He stated that the team were
currently receiving HE’s response to these two mitigation
requests. The Senior Consultant outlined page two of the report,
which highlighted the cost of willow planting, and how it would
partly address CO2 emissions along the route. He stated that the
DCO Version 1 had included the Environmental Statement, as well as
the Register of Environmental Actions and Commitments (REAC), and
when revisions to these documents were included in DCO Version 2
submission they would be legally binding. He explained that the
team were currently working to ensure that willow planting was
included in the REAC and CoCP, and although HE had agreed to some
measures in the REAC, these still needed to be developed
further. |
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Mitigation Update - verbal report Minutes: The Senior Consultant introduced the report
and stated that the team had received written comments from HE on
all 57 mitigation items, and these comments were currently being
reviewed by officers and senior Members. He stated that once this
had been reviewed, it would be reported back to the Task Force. He
felt hopeful that the Council and HE would be in a reasonable
position by May/June 2021. |
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Minutes: There were no items to add to the Work Programme. |