M25 junction 28 improvements

Upgrading junction 28 of the M25 between the M25 and the A12 in Essex.

Start date 2021-22

End date TBC

Cost £50 million to £100 million

Visualisation of the preferred route

Latest updates

16 December 2020

M25 junction 28 – what’s happening?

The Examining Authority are currently undertaking an independent examination. They are assessing the important and relevant issues along with the initial views of the ‘Interested Parties’ of the proposed improvements to the M25 junction 28. The Examining Authority will then issue an initial assessment of the issues that they would like to examine along with a draft timetable for the examination.

A ‘Preliminary Meeting’ will then be held, and due to the current restrictions around public events, this meeting could be online and take place over a couple of days.

Following this meeting a final timetable will be issued and the six month ‘Examination’ period will start. During the examination period, hearings will take place where ‘Interested Parties’ are invited to provide more details of their views in writing and the Examining Authority will ask their written questions. All documents received and issued by the Planning Inspectorate will be published on the Planning Inspectorate webpage.

Following the examination, the Examining Authority will then prepare a report to the Secretary of State for Transport, including a recommendation about whether to grant or refuse development consent. Within three months of the close of the examination, the report will then be sent to the Secretary of State and is not published until the decision is made.

The Secretary of State then has 3 months to make a decision to grant or refuse development consent. Both this decision and the Examining Authority’s report will then be available on the Planning Inspectorate webpage.

We submitted an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) on 27 May 2020 and it was accepted for examination on 24 June 2020. All documents relating to the DCO, including the application form and accompanying documents, drawings, plans and maps and the Environmental Statement can be viewed electronically and free of charge on the Planning Inspectorate webpage. Alternatively, you can view these documents at either Brentwood library or Essex library.
15 July 2020

Give your views on the scheme

There will be a six-week representation period followed by further time to arrange the examination, before the formal six-month examination period can start. During the examination, the Planning Inspectorate will issue requests for further information from us and other parties to be provided in writing. They also will facilitate a series of public hearings.

To contribute to this process, you will need to register as an Interested Party once the representation period opens and make a Relevant Representation outlining your views to the Planning Inspectorate. The Planning Inspectorate need to receive this during the representation period. We will carry out targeted publicity about the representation period when the arrangements including dates are finalised. You also can receive updates on the scheme from the Planning Inspectorate, including confirmation of when you can submit a Relevant Representation, by signing up to scheme updates on the Planning Inspectorate webpage for the scheme.

The Planning Inspectorate website has an advice note which outlines how the general public can get involved including how to submit a Relevant Representation in order to become an Interested Party.
01 July 2020

Application for Development Consent Order

Our proposals for the M25 junction 28 improvement scheme are the subject of an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO). We are applying for a DCO to give us the planning permission and legal powers we need to build the scheme. We have submitted our application to the Planning Inspectorate, the government agency responsible for operating the planning process for DCOs. Our DCO application was accepted by the Planning Inspectorate on 24 June 2020 for formal examination.

You can view our application on the Planning Inspectorate website.
06 December 2019

Supplementary consultation now closed

Our supplementary consultation on the proposed changes and newly identified impacts of the scheme closed on 2 December at 11.59pm. You can still view all of the information about our proposals in the 'Project media files and documents' section below.

We would like to thank those who got involved, as we begin to review, consider and analyse your feedback.

This scheme is categorised as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project under the Planning Act 2008. As such, we're required to make an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) to obtain the necessary approvals to construct and operate the scheme.

See more updates

Project information

We have identified a number of issues at the junction which are impacting on the local and regional economies and their ability to achieve their full potential. These include:

congestion and delay disrupting journeys on our road network and local roads
actual and significant perceived safety concerns connected to driver movements on the roundabout
resilience to incidents is poor, resulting in significant disruption and unreliable journey times
poor air quality

We reviewed this junction in our London Orbital and M23 to Gatwick Route Strategy Evidence Report, and this scheme was included in the March 2015 Road Investment Strategy. In response to this we developed our Delivery Plan which outlines the next steps for taking the scheme forward.

Our research shows that if we don’t improve junction 28 by 2037, we can expect:

increased congestion and lengthy queues, at least 5 times worse than at present
a 25% reduction in average speeds through the junction (excluding mainline M25 and A12)
widespread disruption following incidents
constraints on future development and growth opportunities
local air quality issues to deteriorate

We’ve established a number of scheme objectives to address the challenges:

increase capacity and reduce congestion and delays by providing an improved link from M25 to A12
reduce the incident rate and resulting disruption by increasing the capacity of the roundabout
improve the safety on the roundabout by reducing traffic levels and redesigning the existing layout
cater for future traffic demands to enable development and economic growth
minimise the impact on local air quality and noise by smoothing the traffic flow
protect access for non-motorised users (pedestrians and cyclists) and improve conditions wherever possible