A petition has been launched calling for Greenwich Council to declare a 'climate emergency' after the opening of the new Ikea which is being blamed for an increase in traffic.

Residents in Greenwich were left furious last weekend due to gridlocked traffic after the hotly-anticipated store opening.

A number of people told News Shopper they couldn't get out of their driveways because of the volume of people visiting the new store off Bugsby Way.

The new store is near the Blackwall Tunnel approach which is regularly congested due to traffic or accidents.

A petition has been started calling for drastic action.

It states: "We believe that the environmental crisis is too big to ignore. The air we breathe in Greenwich was already at dangerously high pollution levels. And now we have an Ikea. The roads cannot support the traffic. Our lungs cannot cope with the fumes."

Caolan Byrne, who started the petition, told News Shopper: "I've been following closely what has been going on around the country with other councils declaring a climate emergency and then in December we had Sadiq Kahn declare one for London and his aims to be carbon-neutral by 2030.

"I’ve got a two-year-old boy whose nursery has special trees to try and combat the pollution problem and who also has two inhalers because the doctors fear he has asthma.”

Caolan lives five minutes from Ikea and says the traffic has always been bad.

News Shopper:

While Ikea is now taking the flack, he feels Greenwich Council is to blame for allowing this to happen in the first place.

Caolan believes unless action is taken now the council will face an unstoppable rise in dangerous pollution.

He wants the council to implement measures ensuring Greenwich is carbon-neutral by 2030 and do more to take cars off the road.

He continued: “The fact that people are signing the petition is enough for me to know that there are people out there who feel the same way as I do, who have the same concerns about the direction the council is taking and who want action."

You can sign the petition here. 

Greenwich Council has responded by saying it is monitoring the traffic situation.

A spokesman said: "The council is monitoring the volume of traffic daily, with radar detectors, but we cannot make conclusions based on one weekend’s data alone.

"If the volume of traffic is higher than originally forecast then the council will require Ikea to take extra measures to address this."

Ikea is continuing to urge customers to leave their cars at home and make full use of the public transport that surrounds the fully sustainable site.

Last weekend, however, saw the car pack fill up immediately with mile-long queues surrounding Ikea.

Greenwich Council's spokesman continued: "Ikea’s target is to have nearly 60 per cent of customers arrive at the store by walking, cycling or using public transport but we recognise it will take time for some people’s behaviours to change and adapt to this new style of store.

“The council has used Ikea’s S106 planning funds to deliver improvements to support sustainable travel to and from the new store and Ikea is offering more than half price home delivery so people can get their purchases home.

"Bus priority, cycling, walking, lighting, traffic signalling and way-finding improvements have been made around Bugsby’s Way and further improvements between Westcombe Park station and the store are coming this summer.”

Have you been affected by the increase in traffic? Let us know in the comments below or email emily.hennings@newsquest.co.uk