Sadiq Khan is under renewed pressure over his £2 billion Silvertown Tunnel, which many people fear make London’s environmental woes even worse.
The River Thames tunnel has been attacked from all quarters over its potential impact on air pollution.
The mayor has remained determined to deliver the huge project, despite concerns from local residents over congestion and traffic.
Campaigners have also claimed the tunnel would make the mayor a “climate hypocrite”, while several Labour politicians have broken with him on the issue.
The Silvertown Tunnel has faced weeks of scrutiny with Labour-controlled Newham Council rejecting the proposal in a vote earlier this month.
Labour-run Greenwich Council also voted forward a motion for the new tunnel to be paused on Wednesday night.
This comes after a protest by NHS doctors, nurses and GPs outside City Hall last month warning that the added pollution from the tunnel, which would link Greenwich to Newham under the River Thames, would lead to the needless deaths of children.
Labour politicians like MP for Greenwich and Woolwich Matthew Pennycook, MP for Erith and Thamesmead Abena Oppong-Asare, and MP for West Ham Lyn Brown have also spoken out against the tunnel.
Pat Worrall, a local resident shopping in Woolwich town centre, also had issues with the plans.
She said: “Don’t you think we have enough traffic as it is? The problems [with congestion and traffic] the Blackwall Tunnel has now, is that going to happen with the Silvertown Tunnel?”
But Joe Birmingham, another local, disagreed. He said: “I live in East Greenwich and it’s notorious that if you’re going to travel by bus or anything, you have to add on half an hour as the traffic just blocks up everything.
"Whether they do the tunnel or not, the pollution is being caused by the block-up of the traffic. It’s ridiculous.”
Alec MacNaughton is a motorist and says he agrees with the idea of a tunnel, but thinks it should be closer to Thamesmead.
He added: “Another tunnel is good. I’m not very impressed with the ULEZ and Sadiq’s war on drivers, it’s very anti-family. We need another tunnel but Greenwich makes no sense. Central Greenwich is already busy.”
Greenwich locals have raised problems they have on social media as construction on the Silvertown Tunnel, due to be finished in 2025, continues.
Victoria Rance, one of the main campaigners against the tunnel, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she thought momentum was shifting.
She said: “We’ve been working on this for nine years. The weight of public opinion is with us. Sadiq Khan has got no mandate to carry on and if he doesn’t change his mind now, he’s trampling all over local democracy.
“It feels like [momentum is swinging our way]. I’m quite excited. Obviously we’re cautious as it’s happened before pre-election, so we want to make sure anything that happens is not just token. It really is up to Sadiq Khan and [Deputy Mayor for Transport] Seb Dance.”
When asked if the tunnel undermined the mayor’s climate credibility, she said: “Yes, absolutely. He’s got to take into account the climate emergency, City Hall’s car reduction targets and Greenwich’s car target reductions. He’s throwing a spanner in the works of Greenwich and London by carrying on with this. You can safely call him a climate hypocrite.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The bold action taken by the mayor has transformed the capital’s air. Since 2016, because of measures like the expansion of the world’s first ultra low emission zone, the number of Londoners living in areas exceeding legal limits for nitrous dioxide (NO2) has fallen by 94%.
“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.”
What is the Silvertown Tunnel and what will it look like?
The Silvertown Tunnel is a four-lane highway that will be 1.4km long and passing under the River Thames, connecting the Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Docks in Newham.
The tunnel will reportedly cost as much as £2bn but City Hall claims the cost will be closer to £1bn.
Transport for London (TfL) awarded the contract to design, build and maintain the tunnel to a private consortium, RiverLinx.
It was proposed by Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London and has been approved under Sadiq Khan, despite him being quoted in 2016 saying that tolls on the new tunnel would be a “tax on east and south-east Londoners” when he was the mayoral candidate.
The mayor’s spokespeople have defended the tunnel’s construction and say it will relieve the “chronic congestion” and traffic on London’s roads, particularly at the nearby Blackwall Tunnel.
They add that the Silvertown Tunnel will include a dedicated bus lane which will allow TfL to provide a reliable cross river bus network.
It is expected to be completed in 2025.
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