Transparency data

Lower Thames Crossing SRO appointment letter

Updated 15 December 2025

Sender

Jo Shanmugalingam, Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport

Becky Wood, Chief Executive Officer of the National Infrastructure, Service Transformation Authority and the Senior Accountable Officer for project delivery across government

Recipient

Kate Cohen, Senior Responsible Owner for the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) project

Letter

2 December 2025

Dear Kate,

Subject: Appointment as Senior Responsible Owner for the Lower Thames Crossing project

I am writing to confirm your appointment as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of the Lower Thames Crossing project with immediate effect. This letter sets out your responsibilities and the support you can expect from your department, government project delivery and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.

As SRO, you are directly accountable to the Roads Transport Group Director General, under the oversight of Jo Shanmugalingam, as Accounting Officer for the Department for Transport and the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP.

Your Lower Thames Crossing project is within the Roads and Projects Infrastructure Directorate under the oversight of the Chair of the Investment Committee and is included in the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP).

You have personal responsibility for the delivery of the Lower Thames Crossing project and will be held accountable for the delivery of its objectives, policy intent and outcomes. This encompasses securing and protecting its vision, ensuring that it is governed responsibly, reported on honestly, escalated appropriately and influencing the context, culture and operating environment of the project.

You are also responsible for ensuring the ongoing viability of the project and recommending its pause or termination if appropriate. Where issues arise that you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these to the Lower Thames Crossing programme board, the Executive Committee’s (ExCo) sub-committees and HM Treasury.

You remain accountable to ministers, as set out in the Civil Service Code and should deliver the project in accordance with the objectives and policy intent as set by ministers.

In addition to your internal accountabilities, SROs for GMPP projects and programmes are personally accountable to Parliamentary select committees. This means that, from the date of this letter, you will be held personally accountable to and could be called by select committees to account for and explain the decisions and actions you have taken to deliver the Lower Thames Crossing project.

It is important to be clear that your accountability relates only to implementation, within the agreed terms in this letter, it will remain for the minister to account for the relevant policy decisions and development.

More information on this is set out in giving evidence to select committees – guidance for Civil Servants, sometimes known as the Osmotherly Rules. Information on the roles and responsibilities of the SRO is detailed in the government project delivery’s guidance on the role of the senior responsible owner.

You are expected to run your project in accordance with the government functional standard for project delivery and the functional standards as required, which is mandated for government departments and arm’s length bodies to follow. You should also make yourself familiar with the teal book, government project delivery’s code of practice and any further guidance and requirements set by the DfT project delivery and performance directorate, the centres of excellence and roads transport group.

Time commitment and tenure

This role will require 80% of a full-time equivalent (FTE) to enable effective delivery of the role and execute your responsibilities in full. As a part-time worker (0.8FTE), this is equivalent to 100% of your time.

You are required to undertake this role until the end of the project planned for 2034, or until the responsibility is transferred. Progress towards this will be reflected in your personal objectives. Any changes to the agreed time commitment or tenure of the role, as set out above, will require both departmental and National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority consent.

Objectives and performance criteria

The policy intent supported by this project is set out in the government’s Road Investment Strategy 2 (2020 to 2025) and Department for Transport client scheme requirements. Any proposed changes to scope, which impact this intent or the realisation of benefits, must be authorised by the LTC programme board and may be subject to further levels of approval.

The vision of the Lower Thames Crossing project is to deliver the following outputs:

• relieve the congested Dartford Crossing and approach roads and improve its performance by providing free-flowing north-south capacity
• improve resilience of the Thames crossings and strategic road network
• support sustainable local development and regional economic growth in the medium to long term
• improve safety
• minimise adverse impacts on health and the environment
• be affordable to government and users and achieve value for money

Your personal objectives and performance criteria, which relate to the Lower Thames Crossing project, are:

Deliver the outline business case and full business case

Deliver the outline business case (OBC) and full business case (FBC) for the LTC project by:

• ensuring sufficient resources and capability are made available to maintain progress on the delivery of the current outline business case in 2025
• delivering a quality FBC in 2028 to gain approval through DfT and wider government investment governance and support ministerial decisions

Deliver the transaction for the sale of the LTC project

Deliver the transaction for the sale of the LTC project by:

• leading activities through National Highways to create an investible business that is attractive to private sector investors and will deliver the government’s policy objectives
• developing an economic regulatory framework and legislation to achieve a successful transaction of LTC
• ensuring timely delivery of enabling works in an efficient manner

Extent and limit of accountability

Finance and controls

HM Treasury spending controls will apply on the basis set out within the department’s delegated authority letter. Where the project exceeds the delegated authority set by HM Treasury, the Treasury approval point process will apply, and the details of each approval process must be agreed with your HM Treasury spending team. You should consult departmental finance colleagues on how to go about this.

You should note that where expenditure is considered novel, contentious, repercussive, or likely to result in costs to other parts of the public sector, HM Treasury approval will be required, regardless of whether the programme expenditure exceeds the delegated authority set by HM Treasury. If in doubt about whether approval is required, you should, in the first instance, consult departmental finance colleagues before raising it with the relevant HM Treasury spending team.

The overall estimated budget, resourcing requirements and tolerances for your project will be agreed as part of the approval process. You will be expected to deliver within these tolerances and report quarterly on these as part of GMPP reporting.

You should operate at all times within the rules set out in managing public money. In addition, you must be mindful of, and act in accordance with, the specific HM Treasury delegated limits and Cabinet Office controls relevant to the project.

Delegated authority

You are authorised to:

• Use your programme’s governance framework as the means by which any necessary authorisation is sought for any changes to your programme’s scope, milestones or scheduling. Your authorised expenditure is set out in your delegation letter. Please refer to this.

• Retain ultimate accountability and oversight for the Lower Thames Crossing project, but with funding delegated to National Highways.

• Coordinate and provide steer on finance management arrangements, recognising that:

  • National Highways is authorised to undertake in-year project rescheduling within the delegated budget, provided the SRO is satisfied that the expenditure can be accommodated under the annual expenditure limits, as agreed with Treasury, without requiring direct approval from the SRO.

  • Any changes affecting the longer-term trajectory or rescheduling beyond this must be agreed with the LTC programme board, DfT’s ExCo sub-committees and HMT and may, depending on circumstances, require wider cross-government agreement. (Delegations for LTC are reflected in the controls annex of your financial delegation letter).

  • You are also responsible for recommending to the LTC programme board and DfT’s ExCo sub-committees the need to either pause or terminate the programme where necessary and in a timely manner.

These authority limits are subject to change and other conditions or tolerances may be set as part of the business case approval and ongoing monitoring processes, which you should then operate within.

Where issues arise which take you outside of these authority limits that you are unable to resolve, you are responsible for escalating these issues to the LTC programme board, ExCo’s sub-committees and HMT.

It is good practice to review appointment letters at least annually, as part of objective setting, after any significant changes to the business case or if there are fundamental decisions, to ensure that these remain up to date.

Appointments

You should appoint a full-time project director to support you in the management of this project and make other appointments as required for the control and delivery of your programme within your delegated authority.

Governance and assurance

You should pay attention to ensuring effective governance for your project, including the establishment of a programme board with appropriate membership and clear terms of reference.

As primary owner, you must ensure that the project secures business case approval from the Investment as well as CO and HMT. You should also ensure that the project remains aligned to the strategic outcomes, costs, timescales, and benefits in line with the approved business case as well as monitoring the context within which the project is being delivered to ensure it remains valid.

Where a change impacts the scope, costs, benefits, or planned delivery milestones agreed as part of an agreed business case, you are responsible for following the agreed change request approval process and setting a new, approved business case baseline.

You should ensure that an accounting officer assessment is completed alongside the approval of the outline business case and that this is published on GOV.UK as part of the government’s transparency requirements on major projects. You are responsible for bringing to the attention of the accounting officer any material changes in the project, which could require a new accounting officer assessment to be completed and published. See guidance on completing accounting officer assessments for major projects from HM Treasury.

You are responsible for providing assurance to the accounting officer and relevant oversight bodies that the environmental principles policy statement legal duty has been considered by ministers in policy decisions underpinning the project.

Although you are directly accountable for this project, you are also expected to support delivery of the department’s overall strategic objectives. This means that you are expected to work collaboratively with other SROs and project directors in adjacent projects and programmes and with the DfT’s project delivery and performance directorate and chief project delivery officer to manage dependencies, resources, schedules and funding to support delivery of the overall change the department needs to achieve its strategic objectives.

You should ensure that appropriate and proportionate assurance is in place and agree on the level and frequency of assurance reviews through the maintenance of an integrated assurance and approvals plan. You should develop this plan and its maintenance in collaboration with the departmental assurance coordinator and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority.

Project status, reporting and transparency requirements

The project status at the date of your appointment is reflected in the most recent quarterly return on the project to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority and is the agreed position as you assume formal ownership of the programme.

You are responsible for ensuring the honest and timely reporting on the position of the project to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority while it remains on the GMPP and for providing reports and information to DfT’s ExCo sub-committees as required. Reporting should include carbon measurement and other sustainable development goals demonstrating evidence that the project contributes to an overarching environmental strategy and is aligned with defined net zero pathways.

Information on the project will be published annually by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority. As part of the government’s commitment to transparency on major projects, you are responsible for publishing on GOV.UK:

• a summary of the accounting officer assessment completed in line with the approval of the full business case and summaries of any subsequent assessments should they be required

• a summary of the HM Treasury-approved full business case
• a close-out report after the project has been completed

Guidance on the publication of business cases and on the completion of accounting officer assessments is available from HM Treasury.

Evaluation

Evaluation of major projects is a requirement. Given the scale and complexity of major projects, it is essential that they are evaluated properly to learn lessons and help ensure accountability. As an SRO of a GMPP project, you are responsible for ensuring that your project has a proportionate and suitably resourced evaluation in place.

Evaluation planning should begin from the very start of the policy development and the initiation of the project. Progress with the development and implementation of evaluation plans will be monitored through the major project assurance process.

You are also responsible for registering all planned, live and completed evaluations on the Government Evaluation Registry. Guidance on using the evaluation registry is available on GOV.UK.

Development and support

As a graduate of the Major Projects Leadership Academy, you are expected to maintain your continuing professional development as a project leader, including your status as an accredited assurance reviewer. To maintain your accreditation, you will be required to participate in a review at least once every 12 months. 

The department will assist you in securing the necessary resources to support the project and will set clear guidance, requirements and standards, which align with the government functional standard on project delivery, to enable good governance and effective delivery.

You will be part of the department’s cohort of major project leaders who will be expected to support each other, share good practice and lessons learned and collectively develop solutions. You should liaise with the department’s head of profession for project delivery to discuss the maintenance and development of your delivery and leadership skills.

The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority and government project delivery will be available to you for support, advice and assurance throughout the project’s time on the GMPP. Government project delivery’s suite of standards, guidance, tools, templates and services can be accessed from projectdelivery.gov.uk and we encourage you and your team to register for accounts.

Following approval of the business case and designation as a DfT’s Tier 1 project, ExCo’s sub-committees will provide ongoing oversight and support and will take steps to help resolve and escalate risks, issues or constraints that are acting as a blocker to successful delivery.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you every success in your role as SRO.

Yours sincerely,

[Signed]

Jo Shanmugalingam

Permanent Secretary, Department for Transport

[Signed]

Becky Wood

Chief Executive Officer, National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority

Senior Accountable Officer for Project Delivery across government

Conformation of acceptance of appointment

I confirm that I accept the appointment of Senior Responsible Owner for the project, including my personal accountability for implementation, as set out in the letter above.

[Signed]

Kate Cohen

19 November 2025