I’ve been impressed by the quality of stakeholder engagement on this project so far. It’s apparent the team has a genuine interest in hearing what we have to say, and I’m satisfied we’ve had an opportunity to shape the proposals. Also, having a dedicated single point of contact has made communications easy.
Statutory Environmental Body representative
Lower Thames Crossing
Overview
The Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) is a proposed new road crossing connecting Kent and Essex, designed to relieve congestion at the existing Dartford Crossing, improve the resilience of the road network and unlock economic growth for the region.
Key Services
Stakeholder engagement and consultation
CJ Associates provided, and project managed a dedicated team of stakeholder engagement, communications, and consultation specialists. We have worked closely with our client and stakeholders on this major infrastructure scheme since June 2014, including:
- Developing an intensive and comprehensive stakeholder engagement and consultation programme with technical and strategic stakeholders across the project including political, industry, local government, National Highways and broader community interests.
- Planning and delivery of a major public consultation on route options held between January and March 2016, resulting in 47,000 responses – the largest ever public consultation for a UK road project.
- Providing expert stakeholder engagement advice and assistance throughout the options development and consultation phase of the project and supporting the delivery of the preferred route announcement.
Following a successful route consultation in 2016 and the government announcement of the preferred route, CJ Associates has been retained to assist on the further development of the project. This entails continued stakeholder engagement and further statutory consultation in support of the submission of the Development Consent Order, including
- Relationship management with stakeholders who may be affected either directly or indirectly by the decisions on LTC or can influence the implementation of scheme decisions, including the local authorities, local communities, environmental bodies, and industry.
- Managing communication between stakeholders and LTC technical teams to keep stakeholders informed of key milestones and to discuss and address concerns with the route design.
- Planning and delivery of a supplementary consultation on further design iterations held between October and December 2018, resulting in over 28,000 responses.
Value Added
Our close knit team of stakeholder specialists have worked together during the early scheme definition and consultation stages of this and other complex infrastructure projects and provide a seamless, integrated, well-informed stakeholder engagement service for our clients. This is a core element of project functionality, integrated with all key workstreams, and is vital to planning, obtaining consents, and the successful delivery of the major infrastructure schemes.
