For Mayor Sadiq Khan, the re-election honeymoon is over and it’s all about traffic.
He faces tough decisions as Transport for London (TfL) must start cutting or modifying the services it offers under the stringent conditions imposed by the central government in June as part of the £ 1.9 billion bailout.
This weekend, one of his transportation plans, the controversial £ 1-2 billion Silvertown Tunnel, which will provide an additional crossing under the Thames, brought him into conflict with his own party.
READ MORE: The £ 1 billion Transport for London project that locals are angry about – but you may never have heard of it
At the London Labor Conference, which is being held virtually across the capital due to the increasing cases of Delta variants, 74% of the 300 or so members voted in favor of a motion to cancel the project, even though construction has only just begun.
The motion was tabled by local branches of the Labor Party representing Greenwich, Peckham, Lewisham, Leyton and Thamesmead.
This is where the tunnel will run
(Image: Transport for London)
These are all areas less than 10 miles from the location of the tunnel between the Greenwich Peninsula and West Silvertown and which would be directly affected by any traffic changes.
The tunnel would charge motorists to use it, just as Dartford Crossing is currently doing, and fears that traffic could be diverted to the already congested Rotherhithe Tunnel or Tower Bridge.
The plans would also impose the same toll (likely £ 2.50 per car) on the Blackwall Tunnel, which is currently free to use.
One of the most controversial points of the tunnel is its financing model – a Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
This method was stopped by the central government in 2018 because it was viewed as poor value for money and not as transparent as if the government itself was raising funds for projects.
The Silvertown Tunnel is the last major project in London to use the PFI setup. With the cost of building the tunnel now projected to reach £ 2 billion, Labor Party members are concerned about who would really benefit from the program.
The motion states, “TfL will rely on heavy traffic revenue from tolls on the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels to repay the PFI funding at a time when reducing car use is critical.”
Mayor Sadiq Khan, who appeared in a separate section of the conference on Saturday (July 24th), told MyLondon in June: “We need to avoid car-induced recovery. What we don’t want is all over the country, people jumping back into their cars and that includes London. ”
This was the starting shot for the capital’s first hydrogen double-decker bus fleet.
The Silvertown Tunnel will not have its own bike path or be accessible to pedestrians.
The Greens, who oppose the tunnel, welcomed the move. Zack Polanski, member of the London Assembly and chairman of the Environment Committee, tweeted: “This is a devastating blow to the Mayor of London from his own party. He has to do the right thing from both the Labor Party and local residents and cancel what was Boris Johnson’s project. “
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TfL, which plans to open the tunnel in 2025, states: “The project will reduce congestion in the Blackwall Tunnel and improve the reliability and resilience of the wider road network. It will also provide better transport links with more river-crossing bus trips. “Planned for East London.”
The mayor is not obliged to take action on the basis of this only advisory application. He won support for three further traffic-related applications for the insourcing of TfL services, the prioritization of stations and trains in the entire TfL network and against the cuts in TfL services proposed by the central government.
What do you think of the Silvertown Tunnel? Let us know in the comments below.
If you have a transportation history that you think MyLondon should be reporting on, email callum.marius@reachplc.com