Essex drivers are being warned to plan their journey ahead of a huge "abnormal load" set to travel along the M25 today.

There will be a slow-moving, abnormal load on our roads in Essex, as well as Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire this weekend, taking place overnight, April 6, into the morning tomorrow, April 7.

This is the final part of three large pieces of equipment that are being taken from the Port of Tilbury to Millbrook Power Station in Bedfordshire.

These are essential pieces of equipment for the power station that, when completed, will have the capacity to generate power to provide enough instant electricity to power 150,000 households.

The first two of these essential movements were completed overnight on Saturday February 24 and Saturday March 23.

Each load is safely escorted by police on its 79-mile journey, who will need to temporarily hold traffic to allow the convoy to safely progress. This has been chosen as the safest route for the convoy to take and will move very slowly while it is on the road.

The convoy leaves Tilbury between 4pm and 4.30pm today, before following an approximately 18-hour route including the M25 and M1 to arrive at Millbrook between 10am and 12pm tomorrow.

A spokesman for Millbrook Power said: "Due to the complexity of transporting such a load, we’re expecting this to impact on journeys, so please plan ahead if travelling on the M25 or M1 during this time."

To assist with the movement, the entry slip from the A12 onto the M25 anti-clockwise at junction 28 will be closed between 8pm and 5am.

 

The M25 will be closed between junction 21a and junction 19 for up to 8 hours, between 10pm and 6am. 

There will be a temporary holding delay of around 30 minutes at the Gallows Corner roundabout on the A12, and this is likely to be around 10pm.

Diversions will be in place for all of the closures.

Here are a rough estimate of timings as it moves along the route starting today:

  • Tilbury to M25 junction 30: 4pm to 7.30pm tonight
  • Passes through M25 junction 28: 9.30pm to 11pm tonight
  •  
  • Leaves the M25 at junction 21 to join the M1: 3am to 4am on Sunday
  • Arrives at Millbrook in Bedfordshire: 10am to 12pm on Sunday

The spokesman added: "Thank you to everyone in advance for your patience while we support moving this essential equipment across our road network.

"If you'd like any further information or have any queries you can contact Millbrook Power, who are responsible for this abnormal load movement."