Call for new Thames Crossing to fund ferry service

The Tilbury to Gravesend ferry stopped operating in March 2024, despite calls for it to continue. A jetty is visible in the background

Two Labour MPs are calling for some of the toll revenue from a new lower Thames crossing between Essex and Kent to fund a ferry service across the estuary.

The Tilbury to Gravesend ferry service stopped in March 2024 - the same route that would be provided by a new motorway-style road and tunnel.

Jen Craft, MP for Thurrock in Essex, and Gravesham MP Dr Lauren Sullivan, in Kent, told the transport secretary that "securing a tiny proportion of the toll revenue from the Lower Thames Crossing" could reintroduce the ferry.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said: "No decisions have been made on how the revenue from the Lower Thames Crossing will be spent".

Construction on the new Lower Thames Crossing is expected to begin in 2026

Revenue from the Dart charge, the existing toll on the Dartford Crossing, was £216m in 2023.

A toll to use the new lower Thames crossing (LTC) is expected.

In a letter to the government's transport secretary, the MPs wrote: "The funding necessary to restore the historic ferry service would represent significantly less than 0.1% of the projected annual toll revenue from the Dartford and lower Thames crossings."

Craft and Sullivan said it "would create a low-carbon, cross-river public transport link that complements the strategic objectives of the LTC".

They argued the ferry service "would provide visible and lasting benefit to the communities that will experience the greatest disruption from construction, while strengthening connectivity across the Thames Estuary".

More than 100,000 foot passenger journeys were made every year on the ferry service.

The MPs said hundreds had signed a petition to bring the boat back.

A ferry service of some description across this part of the Thames had operated for centuries.

Since 2000, it was supported financially by councils on both sides of the Thames, but Thurrock ended its subsidy after it became effectively bankrupt and required government support.

A Kent County Council spokesperson said: "Without joint funding from Thurrock, we are currently unable to support the service independently due to ongoing budget constraints.

"However, we remain committed to working with a range of partners to explore a sustainable, long-term solution for a replacement service, should funding become available."

A Thurrock Council spokesperson added they were working on a "long-term sustainable funding model which will enable the ferry to be reintroduced".

The government gave the green light to the UK's largest road tunnel project earlier this year. Work on the the £10bn project that will see vehicles travel 2.6miles under the Thames is expected to begin next year. The motorway-style road is expected to open in 2032 linking the M25 in Essex with the M2 in Kent.

A spokesperson for the DfT said: "We have pledged £590m to take forward the Lower Thames Crossing which will help link up motorists and businesses in the midlands and north with key ports in the South East, delivering growth as part of our Plan for Change".