Council and democracy

Presented by Leigh Nicholson, the report detailed a funding bid for £48.5m that the Council had submitted to the Major Road Network (MRN) Funding Submission for an A13 East Facing Access (EFA). The benefits of the scheme were highlighted within the report in the agenda.

A presentation was provided by Colin Walker, Mott Macdonald Representative. The presentation outlined the options assessment cases that considered topics such as deliverability of the scheme and improvements to air quality. The proposal was to submit option 1A and 6B to the Department for Transport (DfT) for funding.

Noting that works were proposed to commence in autumn 2023 and the costs of the project, the Chair asked how confident the organisation was in achieving this start date and in completing the project. Colin Walker explained that the first bid of the project had been honed to achieve under the £50 million budget and costs were now forecasted at £70 million. He went on to say that it was important for the costs to be calculated right because the DfT would only fund what was asked for. The cost had changed to £70 million because of a parcel of land that had not been included in the first cost.

Referring to the deliverability of the scheme highlighted as ‘neutral-good’ on page 21 of the agenda, the Chair sought clarification on this. Colin Walker explained that the certainty of the scheme was analysed through investigations undertaken and that deliverability issues lay in the acceptance of the scheme from the public and support from the Council. The options of 1A and 6B had been considered and was what would be presented to the DfT.

The Chair asked if the ‘neutral-good’ rank given, on the deliverability of the scheme, was based on the support of the Council or if it was based on whether there were enough funds available to build the scheme. Colin Walker replied that the organisation was currently in discussions with the Council regarding the public aspects of the scheme.

Noting that the budget funding of the scheme had begun in 2018, the Vice-Chair questioned whether the costs would increase again as the scheme was not due to commence work until autumn 2023. Colin Walker answered that inflation and contingencies had been considered within the given figure of £70 million. Adding to this, Anna Eastgate, explained that the service had been undertaking a review of the transport projects which would go through the required checks and balances before a project could progress further.

Councillor Gerrish stated that the scheme fell within his ward and that the scheme was much needed. He went on to comment on the height of the railway line that was within the area of the scheme and asked if consideration had been given to moving the railway line or turning the railway into a two way railway track.

In response, Colin Walker said that the scheme had started out as £50 million but would not rise further. All costs had been considered within the £70 million. Regarding the railway line, he said that the organisation had met with Network Rail and although there was the land available for a twin track, it would be best to focus on the highways options.

Councillor Gerrish felt it was imperative to have all options open particularly for the railway lines as the growth of Thurrock continued into the future. He went on to ask what levels of traffic modelling had been undertaken around the options particularly those concerning Pilgrims Lane around Lakeside where congestions problems usually occurred. Colin Walker explained that data for one forecasted year had been used to compare to the five options of the scheme. Although traffic modelling had not been undertaken, but there had been an option to adjust the road to encourage more traffic to use the road out of Lakeside. The current choice was the free flowing option to ensure quicker access onto and from the A13 to encourage traffic to move off the local roads around Lakeside.

Noting the assessment rate of option 6B, Councillor Gerrish sought an explanation as to why this option had been chosen. He mentioned that there was a traveller community within the area with option 6B. Aware of this, Colin Walker noted that the outcome would not benefit the traveller community as much as it would for the wider public.

Councillor Jefferies sought more clarification on the deliverability of the scheme and questioned how it had been assessed as neutral-good deliverability. Colin Walker replied that there were difficulties in achieving a completion of a scheme and there had not been a successful engagement with the public with this scheme. The uncertainties of the scheme had to be captured and the options considered were what was proposed for the scheme. The next step would be to begin stakeholder engagement following approval of the options presented.

Referring to the proposed Lower Thames Crossing (LTC), Councillor Jefferies questioned whether the LTC would impact upon the A13 EFA Scheme. Anna Eastgate replied that the impact of the LTC had not been considered and that the service was considering how the A13 EFA would benefit Thurrock’s road networks. The scheme would run parallel to the LTC and the service had a cordon plan of the LTC that was used for planning Thurrock’s road schemes.

Councillor Van Day sought clarification on whether the costs of the scheme had considered inflation and if the costs were capped. Colin Walker confirmed that the scheme had taken inflation costs into consideration and the costs were not capped but estimates.

Noting that option 6B was deemed to have less impact, the Vice-Chair questioned if this was in comparison to option 1A which had ancient woodlands. He also asked the location of the ancient woodlands and whether this was Davy Down. Colin Walker confirmed that option 6B had been compared against 1A and that the ancient woodland was Brick Down Wood. Option 1A would remove a significant amount of the ancient woodland whereas option 6B would have a minimal impact. The ancient woodland was privately owned and the organisation had been in contact with the owner to undertake the necessary investigations to confirm that the woodland was ancient and results showed that the woodland was indeed ancient and had been around since the 16^th century.

The Vice-Chair mentioned that Pilgrims Lane was a travellers’ site and asked whether this had been taken into account in the proposed option 6B. Colin Walker answered that the organisation were aware and that it had been a difficult step in choosing option 6B but this would be explained and outlined in the option submission to the DfT along with the impacts of the other options.

Referring to paragraph 2.2 on page 16 of the agenda, he commented on the wording of ‘the Council’s ambition to deliver 32,000 new homes’ and said that the figure had come from national government as a recommended figure. He questioned if this was now the Council’s ambition as worded in the report. Officers noted the wording and the concern raised and would be more attentive in wording for future reports.

The Committee discussed the wording of the recommendations and agreed that where it was worded ‘endorse’, this would be changed to ‘comment’. The Committee also wished to see updates of the scheme brought back to Committee on a regular basis and agreed on adding a recommendation (1.4) for this.

Colin Walker thanked the Committee for their comments which was important to progressing the scheme in the right direction.

RESOLVED:

1.1       That the Committee noted and commented on the work undertaken to develop the A13 East Facing Access scheme to date.

1.2       That the Committee noted and commented on the Options Assessment process identifying the sifting process and prioritisation of schemes for submission to the Department for Transport.

1.3       That the Committee noted the funding implications associated with the A13 East Facing Access scheme options, as set out in Section 7.

1.4       That the Committee requested the A13 EFA Scheme to be brought back as and when the scheme progressed to future stages.