No new roads in superport revamp

12:00pm Friday 9th May 2008

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INSIGHTS into the planned £100million south Essex road revamp can be revealed today.

Yesterday, the Echo told how Dubai-based DP World, the company behind the new £1.5billion Coryton superport, had pledged the cash as part of the deal to win Government approval.

The port's first berth is expected to open by 2011, and DP World will first focus on the Manorway, from Corringham to Stanford-le-Hope.

The road will be resurfaced with specialised low-noise tarmac, noise barriers will be installed and the Sorrells roundabout, Stanford-le-Hope, will be moved further away from homes.

Attention will then be turned to the A13 where various parts will be widened and improvements made at the Lakeside junction on the M25.

The 1,850-acre port is not expected to be fully operational before 2018.

All the changes are expected to be in place by then and more detailed plans of how the £100million will be spent will be released next month.

But it has been made clear no new roads are planned.

Castle Point MP Bob Spink feels an opportunity has been missed as a third road for Canvey could have been tied into the plans.

He said: "During the planning application for the new port I raised the possibility of the new access road for Canvey being made part of the condition of approval.

"They are not investing in roads to the east of the port and all the money is going towards the west and M25.

"This will not help to alleviate congestion on the A13 through Castle Point and Southend."

Canvey councillor Dave Blackwell, who is currently collecting signatures to petition the Government for a third road off Canvey, was more optimistic.

He said: "We are hoping once the infrastructure for the new port is in place there could well be an opportunity for a third road to connect up."

An Essex light railway?

THE leader of Essex County Council has suggested a south Essex light railway could ease worries about transport links to the new superport.

Lord Hanningfield said he hoped the extra wealth generated by building a new £1.5billion port and business park would lead to a light railway being built.

He hopes this will run from Southend, through Castle Point and Basildon, on to Coryton, other parts of Thurrock and London. He suggested it should be modelled on London's Docklands Light Railway.

He said: "The line could be elevated off the ground, like the light railway in London.

"There could be more stops and smaller trains, so it would offer a different service from the current Shoebury to Fenchurch Street line, which could still run in tandem.

"Hopefully the superport will kickstart massive building and investment in the Thames Gateway region.

"A light railway could link up all the new developments, including Coryton, with the rest of south Essex."

However, Lord Hanningfield accepted his council had no immediate plans for a south Essex light railway.

Proposals unveiled by the county council in 2006, to extend the Docklands Light Railway into Thurrock and beyond, never materialised.

Port will cut transport costs

COSTING £1.5 billion and expected to create 12,000 jobs, the London Gateway superport would be the biggest investment and largest creator of jobs in the UK.

DP World believes the port will help cut transportation costs for companies and be more environmentally friendly, by taking up to 2,000 lorries a day off the nation's roads.

However, London Gateway's communications manager Xavier Woodward conceded most of the traffic generated by the port would put pressure on the A13. He said: "There is a big benefit to the nation as a whole.

"Around 25 per cent of containers that arrive on the ships won't even leave the port, but will be transported around the country on smaller ships and around 30 per cent will be moved on the rail network."

Simon Moore, London Gateway Chief Executive, said the port would mark a return to London's trading roots.

He said: "We will get the biggest ships in the world as close as we can to the UK's largest consumer market in combination with significant warehousing capacity.

"This is precisely how the port of London used to work and was the foundation stone on which the city prospered."