Council for ‘most polluted borough’ urges London mayor to scrap new road tunnel plans

A London council has urged the mayor to scrap plans for a new road tunnel running through its borough, which has been called “the most polluted” in the country.

Newham Council voted unanimously for Sadiq Khan to stop building the Silvertown Tunnel, saying this project was incompatible with its climate action and goals.

Campaigners have estimated the tunnel - which would connect run under the Thames - would attract tens of thousands of vehicles a day into the south London borough and have raised concerns over how it would impact air quality.

But Transport for London claims it will benefit the environment by reducing congestion on polluting roads and by giving public transport networks a boost.

All 60 councillors in Newham - all Labour expect for three Independents - voted against the project earlier this week and urged the mayor to cancel it amid concerns over how it could work alongside plans to tackle the climate emergency and air quality.

“As walking and cycling would not be permitted in the tunnel, it could obviously make no contribution to active travel infrastructure,” the motion said.

The tunnel will connect Greenwich in south London to Silvertown on the other side of the river and is expected to start being built in late spring, with a planned opening date of 2025.

Rokhsana Fiaz, Newham’s mayor, said ahead of the vote: “Recent estimates show at least 115 people die prematurely each year in our borough because of life threatening vehicle fumes; and that we have the highest rate of child hospitalisation for asthma related conditions in the country.” She also said one in seven people in Newham are exposed to levels of air pollutant nitrogen dioxide “above the UK limit for human health.

She added: “That’s why it is a moral and health imperative to do all that we can to oppose the Silvertown Tunnel.”

Ms Fiaz later tweeted to say all councillors had voted in favour of the motion opposing the project.

Last month, campaigners against the tunnel met with Seb Dance, the city’s deputy mayor for transport. The Independent understands Mr Dance told them any sudden cancellation of the project - as per their demands - would incur a substantial financial cost.

Following the meeting, campaigner Victoria Rance said the tunnel would be “devestating” for Newham, which she called “the most polluted borough in UK with the most polluted schools”. It was reportedly named as the area with the worst pollution rates in British Heart Foundation research in 2019.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Silvertown Tunnel will transform the way people can travel in a part of London that currently has few options for getting across the river. In addition to providing new zero-emission cross-river bus services for an area in need of them, the tunnel will massively reduce the chronic congestion problems currently associated with the inadequate, Victorian-era Blackwall Tunnel.”

They said this nearby tunnel is closed 700 times a year on average, which leads to a long line of vehicles “emitting toxic pollutants”.

“Both tunnels will be tolled and, when combined with our overall policy of reducing car use across Greater London in favour of active and public transport options, the Silvertown tunnel can help reduce congestion and poor air quality around the Blackwall Tunnel area without increasing the volume of traffic crossing the river,” the spokesperson said.