A campaign to get Crossrail extended to Southend and lobbying for a FOURTH Thames Crossing form part of a bold new vision for the future revealed today.

Southend Council has revealed its five-year roadmap leading to invest in south Essex over the next 30 years with an ambitious package of schemes to boost roads and rail, improving schools, health services and building new homes.

As part of the new strategy, the council wants to build a new outer relief road - from a point near the A130 linking up to an area just north of Southend - to speed up and streamline traffic flow in and out of the town.

Investment in the A127 as a trunk road and extending Crossrail – a rail service linking Heathrow Airport and Shenfield - should also be extended to Southend to support the town’s airport, the council says.

The council also wants to start campaigning for the fourth Thames river crossing in 2020 with an ambition is to secure funding for a new road by 2023.

A third Lower Thames Crossing is already on the cards – a new 14.5 mile, three-lane dual carriageway connecting the M2 near Rochester and the M25 between North and South Ockendon and include a 2.4-mile tunnel between Gravesend and Tilbury.

It is still in the stages of public consultation. Southend Council’s idea for a fourth Thames Crossing should be east of the one being considered.

James Courtenay, Tory deputy leader of Southend Council, said: “Our draft five-year plan for the borough demonstrates a clear ambition and clear direction of hat we want to do and what we want to achieve as a council and also as a place.

“We know that Southend and south Essex as a whole is going to grow in the future, and we are working across south Essex on that. It will bring numerous economic and social benefits to the area.

“However, we are also adamant that this must be infrastructure led and that is why we are planning to campaign for a road to the east and aim to secure funding for it by 2023, call for Crossrail to be extended to Southend and also help make the case for a further river crossing to the east of the proposed Lower Thames Crossing.”

The draft plans are being discussed by the council’s cabinet on November 6, and were drawn up following dozens of public events, forums and surveys over the summer.

Through 55 events, around 2,300 people such as volunteers, schools, councillors, businesses, community groups and the elderly were engaged face to face during the summer, with a total of 2,380 people taking part in two online surveys, with 115 responses to an online forum.

The document states the council wants to start campaigning for the Crossrail line to be extended eastbound from Shenfield to Southend next year, and to start campaigning for the fourth river crossing in 2020.

The draft plan includes additional milestones of a first tenant moved into Airport Business Park Southend by 2020 and start the Better Queensway housing regeneration scheme in the same year.

It has been recommended for approval by cabinet to then be considered by full council in December, although it has been stressed the proposals may be changed in future.