The M12 motorway was a planned

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

starting in north-east

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and joining the

A12 road This is a list of roads designated A12. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by country. * A012 road (Argentina), a road around the city of Rosario * A12 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Kufstein and the German Autobahn A 93 to Landec ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. The 1960s scheme would have started at a junction with the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans were considered throughout the 1960s ...

and North Circular and ended near Brentwood,

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

, or at the proposed new

Maplin Sands The Maplin Sands are mudflats on the northern bank of the Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in ...

airport; the motorway was part of the ambitious

London Ringways The London Ringways were a series of four ring roads planned in the 1960s to circle London at various distances from the city centre. They were part of a comprehensive scheme developed by the Greater London Council (GLC) to alleviate traffic con ...

plan to build motorways throughout London. Although most of the Ringways plan was cancelled in 1969 the M12 motorway project was still included in the

Roads for Prosperity ''Roads for Prosperity'' (often incorrectly called Road to Prosperity) was a controversial white paper published by the Conservative government in the United Kingdom in 1989; detailing the 'largest road building programme for the UK since the Roma ...

white paper published in 1989 along with major proposed developments to the A12 road. It was not formally cancelled until 30 March 1994 by the Secretary of State for Transport, John MacGregor.

Routes

There were three main route proposals: #

South Woodford South Woodford is an area of east London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Woodford Green to the north, Walthamstow to the west, Snaresbrook and Wanstead to the south and Redbridge to the east, and is north-east of ...

() to Brentwood () #South Woodford to a proposed new London Airport at

#South Woodford (or

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

) to

The motorway would have started in South Woodford creating a junction with the

North Circular The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

at the start of the current

. It was intended that the North Circular would also be upgraded as Ringway 2 to motorway standard around London and be designated as the M15 motorway. It was also intended that the M11 would continue further into London joining Ringway 1 and then into Islington as 'Eastway'. Due to the cancellation and the scaling back of

during the 1970s, few of these ambitious plans were realised except of

East Cross Route East Cross Route (ECR) is a dual-carriageway road constructed in east London as part of the uncompleted Ringway 1 as part of the London Ringways plan drawn up the 1960s to create a series of high speed roads circling and radiating out from cen ...

which was part of Ringway 1 and the M11 Link road (designated as the A12) which was opened in 1999 despite considerable opposition from the

M11 link road protest The M11 link road protest was a campaign against the construction of the M11 link road in east London in the early to mid-1990s. "A12 Hackney to M11 link road", as it was officially called, was part of a significant local road scheme to connect t ...

. Land was set aside for the later construction of the M12 interchange when the southern end of the M11 was constructed in the 1970s – the current carriageways of the M11 at the junction with the A406 would have been slip roads between these two routes. The start of the M12 would have been between the existing M11 lanes. Evidence for this can be seen on the ground: * Both the northbound and southbound carriageways of the M11 have stubs of slip roads leading to nowhere in the centre of the road at the point where the carriageways have diverged from one another. * The southbound carriageway has a flyover seemingly over nothing before it splits to join the

North Circular Road The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

. * Land immediately to the east of this bridge has been reserved and kept free of housing.

South Woodford to Brentwood

From South Woodford the M12 would have headed east over what is still mostly open land north of

Clayhall Clayhall is a district of Ilford in the London Borough of Redbridge in east London, England. It is a suburban development. The name is derived from an old manor house that stood within the current area. It is first mentioned in a document of 1203 ...

and south of Hainault then north-east to

Havering-atte-Bower Havering-atte-Bower is a village and outlying settlement of Greater London, England. It is located in the far north of the London Borough of Havering, on the border with Essex, and is northeast of Charing Cross. It was one of three former paris ...

then east towards

South Weald South Weald is a mainly farmland and park settlement in the Borough of Brentwood in Essex, England. The civil parish of South Weald was absorbed by Brentwood Urban District in 1934. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 6370. South Weald con ...

, meeting the

(

Ringway 3 The London Ringways were a series of four ring roads planned in the 1960s to circle London at various distances from the city centre. They were part of a comprehensive scheme developed by the Greater London Council (GLC) to alleviate traffic con ...

) a little north of junction 28. The motorway would have ended a short distance beyond the M25 on the Brentwood Bypass ( A12).

South Woodford to
Maplin Sands The Maplin Sands are mudflats on the northern bank of the Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in ...

The alignment of this route was not finalised before the proposed airport at Maplin Sands was cancelled, but it would have matched the South Woodford-Brentwood alignment to Havering-atte-Bower. The M12 would most probably have then headed south-east and then south to pass east of

Harold Hill Harold Hill is a suburban area in the London Borough of Havering, East London. northeast of Charing Cross. It is a district centre in the London Plan. The name refers to King Harold II, who held the manor of Havering-atte-Bower, and who was ...

parallel with the M25 as far as junction 29 where it would have turned east to run north of the

A127 The A127, also known as the Southend Arterial Road, is a major road in Essex, England. It was constructed as a new arterial road project in the 1920s, linking Romford with Southend-on-Sea, replacing the older A13. Formerly classified as a tr ...

passing to the north of

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

, south of

Wickford Wickford is a town and civil parish in the south of the English county of Essex, with a population of 33,486. Located approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of London, it is within the Borough of Basildon along with the original town of Basil ...

and to the north of Rayleigh and

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

before heading out into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

to the

artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...

that was to be constructed on Maplin Sands for the proposed airport.

South Woodford to Chelmsford

The M12 to Chelmsford would have run on the alignment previously described to Havering-atte-Bower, then continued north-east to meet the M25 (where an additional junction would have been constructed) south of Wattons Green at the administrative boundary between

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

and Essex. The motorway would have passed north of

Pilgrims Hatch Pilgrims Hatch is a residential suburb of Brentwood, Essex, in the east of England. There is a borough council ward bearing the name 'Pilgrims Hatch' which covers the Bishops Hall and Flower estates (the urban area north of the A12 road) and a sm ...

and south of

Doddinghurst Doddinghurst is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Borough of Brentwood, Brentwood, in south Essex. It is 3 miles (5 km) to the north of Brentwood, Essex, Brentwood. History The village was recorded in the Domesday Book as D ...

to meet the A12 at its junction with the A414 south of Chelmsford.

References

External links