Campaigners are urging Greenwich Council to protect school children by rejecting plans to build a new road tunnel.

Transport for London plan to build the Silvertown Tunnel from the Royal Docks to Greenwich Peninsula which will pass through the site of St Mary Magdalene School, due to open in 2015.

The No to Silvertown Tunnel campaign have spoken out against the plans, claiming that the tunnel will increase congestion south of the Blackwall Tunnel and create high levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air.

Jill Austen, a committee member of No to Silvertown Tunnel, said: "They need to face up to their responsibilities to children at St Mary Magdalene, Millennium Primary and other schools across the borough and oppose this dangerous scheme.

"Future generations deserve better than to have their health blighted by this toxic tunnel."

No to Tunnel contributed to an inquiry from the Environmental Audit Committee, who recommended that new schools, hospitals and care homes should not be built on main roads should have air filtration systems included.

Other schools close to roads affected by the Silvertown Tunnel scheme include Halstow Primary in Greenwich and Invicta Primary in Blackheath.

Ms Austen added: "The Environmental Audit Comittee report underlines that it is insanity to build new roads through urban areas such as ours.

"This report should be a wake-up call for policymakers and councillors across London and the rest of the UK - they can't keep on demanding new roads when the effects of those roads damage children's health."

In TFL's public consultation, they have predicted that levels of emission across the area in 2021 with Silvertown to be lower than the level of emissions they expect in 2021 without Silvertown.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "The Mayor is committed to helping London meet the required NO2 levels through a range of radical measures.

They also said: "Emissions of nitrogen oxides are down by 20 per cent and the number of Londoners living in the areas above nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limits have halved since 2008."

The consultation for the Silvertown Tunnel runs until December 19 and can be found online at www.tfl.gov.uk/silvertown-tunnel.