Government cash cannot fund ferry relaunch

The ferry service took foot passengers across the estuary east of London

Government transport funding cannot be used to help relaunch a ferry service across the Thames Estuary, a council has been told.

The foot ferry between Tilbury in Essex and Gravesend in Kent stopped operating in March when Kent County Council pulled its funding and the operator left.

The ferry carried 10,000 passengers a year and helped people avoid the busy road network, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Paul Crick, interim director of Thurrock Council, said: "We've always been clear there's no public funding towards it - it needs to run on a commercial basis."

"I've made clear our desire for the ferry to come back on a commercial basis.

"I've explored with the Department of Transport whether we could use any of our grant funding we've received for public transport provision towards the ferry and they've told us we can't.

"It's very much with the consultants now to see how a ferry could operate."

Mr Crick also told the place overview and scrutiny committee the Thames Estuary Growth Board - a collaboration of Thurrock Council, Kent County Council and other partners - had sought ways to restore the ferry due to "a lot of public demand".

He told councillors on the Labour-controlled council that a study commissioned in September was looking at viable options and would now report back in January, instead of last month.

Earlier this year, Roy Jones, Independent councillor for Stanford East and Corringham Town, put forward a motion urging the council to do all it could to help restore the ferry.