Highways England has announced that the Lower Thames Crossing to use a new environmental scheme. The £9 billion project, which includes building twin tunnels under the River Thames along with 20km of new road links, aims to boost capacity and improve connections between the South East and the wider UK. Under the revised system, Natural England will serve as the lead environmental regulator, coordinating input from agencies such as the Environment Agency and the Marine Management Organisation. According to the government, this setup is meant to replace the existing approach where developers must deal individually with multiple overlapping authorities—a process seen as both lengthy and expensive. 

The Lower Thames Crossing has faced controversy from the outset, with environmental groups and several local councils warning about risks to wildlife habitats, rising traffic levels, and negative impacts on air quality. The project still requires thorough environmental evaluations and planning approvals, but the introduction of a lead regulator is meant to coordinate these assessments, not bypass them.