THURROCK MP Jackie Doyle-Price claims the "fat lady has not sung yet" in the battle to prevent a new river crossing being built in Thurrock.

But she insisted Thurrock Council need to do more in building a case against the two options under consideration from the Government.

Option A would see a new crossing built next to the current Thurrock-Dartford one, while option C would land between Tilbury Fort and Coalhouse Fort before joining the A13.

Ms Doyle-Price said: "I will continue to fight against the two options before us. I don’t think that any option should involve putting more traffic on the M25 and the A13.

"I think it a dereliction of leadership that highways authorities in Essex and Thurrock have not come up with good evidence based analysis as to why these options won’t work.

"Instead Thurrock Council consulted on the options with a fourth option  which said ‘none of the above’. If you are going to represent a community you have to do better than that. You have to make good arguments.

"And it isn’t responsible to suggest that ‘none of the above’ is a credible option when there is a clear need for more river crossings."

At a debate last Tuesday, transport minister Robert Goodwill said the Government would not look again at options to land the new bridge or tunnel at Canvey Island or Southend.

Those two options had been on the table in a 2009 study and both Ms Doyle-Price and the South Basildon and East Thurrock MP Stephen Metcalfe had called on the Department for Transport to look again at those alternatives.

Option B, which proposed to land a new crossing in the Grays Beach Park area, was dropped in December.

Ms Doyle-Price added: "I am making constructive suggestions to give the Government somewhere else to go – by looking again at options D and E and by examining the potential for ferries.  

"The Woolwich ferry carries one million vehicles a year and a ferry could take local traffic away from the crossing.

"Since the debate, I have followed up on the points raised with the Minister. I have also made these arguments to the Prime Minister and asked that resilience at the Dartford crossing be properly assessed at COBRA.

"The fat lady has not sung yet."