Current Highways England survey works
Residents may have noticed large numbers of cones and works machinery, such as diggers, appearing in fields around Upminster and Cranham over the past few weeks. These are archaeology survey works, conducted by Balfour Beatty on behalf of Highways England, and are part of the process of ground investigations, prior to the submission of a Development Consent Order application for the proposed new Lower Thames Crossing.
The works are likely to continue until the end of the year, with the soil replaced once the works are complete.
Further details can be found on the Archaeological trial trenching page of the Highways England website.
What this notice doesn’t say is that these ‘survey work’s’ are currently destroying a Conservation Area and putting local residents at risk. A number of near misses with Highways England hgv’s have already been reported, in addition to damage to road surfaces and trees and hedgerows in these areas.