A community woodland and two public parks are among the 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of “landscape scale” forest creation that the government has planned to offset the environmental impact of a new road tunnel scheme under the River Thames. 

The proposed plans for the Lower Thames Crossing are expected to almost double road capacity across the Thames east of London and ease congestion on the Dartford Crossing, with the aim of connecting residents to jobs, boosting the economy and creating new public parks and woodland habitats, according to National Highways.

National Highways said the Lower Thames Crossing aims to be "the greenest road ever built in the UK", as the project plans include the planting of over one million extra trees in Kent and in Thurrock, Havering and Brentwood in Essex. 

The “landscape scale” proposals would include public parks in Thurrock and Gravesham, a new community woodland in Brentwood and other areas of native broadleaf...