THE leaders of Thurrock’s three political parties have written to transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin demanding the consultation over a new Thames crossing be stopped.

Labour and council ceader John Kent, Conservative leader Rob Gledhill, and Graham Snell, leader of Ukip, signed a letter asking for the process to be stopped following the announcement by Transport Minister Andrew James last month that Option A – close to the current Dartford Crossing – was still being considered.

Last month the trio sent a letter to Mr McLoughlin asking for the consultation period to be extended past March 24.

The letter says: “Earlier this month the Transport Minister Andrew Jones confirmed that Option A remained a viable option and was under consideration. This was confirmed by Highways England at the consultation event at Tilbury on 25th February.

“As you will know the many thousands of leaflets and the on-line consultation portal contain no information relating to Option A. It was dismissed as uneconomic and described as offering no solution to congestion problems at the Dartford crossing. It was also considered to do little for the economy. Similar comments to these were made again by Highways England at the Tilbury consultation event.”

It explains: “As no information or evidence about Option A is contained in the consultation material it is impossible for the public and businesses to offer comments or take a view. If Option A is part of the consultation then it should have been made clearer and have supporting information that is comparable to Option C.”

The letter adds a concern because Options C and A “perform completely different functions” and asks what is the function of the new crossing – “Is it to build an expensive by-pass to the crossing and junction 30, or is it to provide a new strategic route for freight traffic travelling from the Channel ports to the Midlands and the north”?

And it states: “Given the ease with which Option A has been reintroduced part way through the process, why not Option D?”

But because “with only three weeks of the consultation period remaining it is just not practical for one or two Options to be reintroduced with the same level of information as Option C, and for it to be considered a fair consultation process” the consultation should be stopped.