With 18 miles of River Thames frontage, the Royal Opera House and Europe's newest container shipping port, Thurrock has a dynamism and energy that is seeing the area benefit from more than £6bn of private sector investment in growth. But where exactly is it?

The 500,000 shoppers who every week descend on INTU Lakeside know, as do the 130,000 drivers who use the Dartford Crossing every day.