Ministers have postponed the decision on the planning application for the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) by a further seven months.

Transport secretary Louise Haigh was due to decide whether to grant the scheme a Development Consent Order (DCO) by last Friday. However, late on Monday (7 October) she issued a parliamentary statement saying that it was ‘necessary' for the deadline to be extended until 23 May 2025.

Ms Haigh added that the extension was ‘to allow more time for the application to be considered further, including any decisions made as part of the spending review'.

The original deadline for DCO decision was June but a delay was announced in the run-up to the General Election.

The project to build a tunnel under the Thames between Kent and Essex was previously due to start the year, but was put back by two years by the then transport secretary, Mark Harper, in March 2023.

A National Highways spokesperson said: 'The proposals for the Lower Thames Crossing have been thoroughly scrutinised through the statutory planning process, which included a robust and detailed six-month examination by a panel of independent planning inspectors.'

Logistics UK chief executive David Wells OBE said: 'The postponement of the decision on the Lower Thames Crossing's Development Consent Order (DCO) is deeply concerning and runs counter to what the new government has said about getting Britain building again.

'Industry is united in its opinion that the Lower Thames Crossing needs to be built so the decision to delay the DCO will be met with bitter disappointment and frustration by businesses up and down the country.

'The Dartford Crossing is currently the only Thames crossing east of London and delaying the decision will prolong the daily congestion which makes it one of the most unreliable routes in the UK. Two thirds of journeys travelling north at the Dartford Crossing take twice as long as they should, and the delays cost the UK economy more than £200m every year in lost productivity.

'40% of journeys across the Dartford Crossing are freight vehicles carrying vital goods throughout the country and the government needs to grant the DCO as soon as possible to unlock UK logistics, drive growth and help keep supply chains moving across the whole country.'