The government stated that additional time was required to evaluate The Lower Thames Crossing’s (LTC) costs and decide whether to issue a development order.
In an effort to ease traffic, the 14-mile idea was initially presented in 2009 and would connect Kent and Essex via a road and tunnel under the River Thames.
In response to the revelation, activists have become enraged, claiming that more money has already been spent obtaining permission than on actually building the longest road tunnel in the world, which is located in Norway.
National Highways was disclosed earlier this year in a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
Before a shovel is ever touched, the total amount spent, including technical surveys and land purchase expenses, has exceeded £800 million.
The planning fee alone is more than twice as expensive as what it took Norway to actually construct the world’s longest road tunnel, as the pro-growth advocacy organization Britain Remade noted.
The head of policy at the think tank, Sam Dumitriu, stated that the Laerdal tunnel, which links Oslo and Bergen, only cost £140 million after accounting for inflation.
He expressed his disappointment to News about the government’s decision to reject the LTC, saying, “It is clear that our planning system is essentially flawed more than anything else.”
