Greenwich Council sign agreement with TfL on Silvertown Tunnel improvements

On the 10th May Chris Grayling, Secretary of State for Transport, will make a decision on whether the Silvertown Tunnel will be approved. This follows a planning inquiry in 2016 and 2017 and a delay from earlier decision deadlines.

As part of the decision, Greenwich Council and Transport for London have entered a formal agreement on benefits that the local area will receive should it be approved.

Pedestrian environment around Blackwall approach flyover

Much of the agreement is confidential, though some local improvements are listed. They are:

Siebert Road Noise Barrier

“TfL are to set aside the sum of £933,000 for the
construction of a noise barrier. Should the cost be greater than this amount the
Authority may be requested to identify resources towards the funding gap”.

Courtesy Google

Bio-diversity offsetting

“A sum of £41,036 plus £15,000 of administration costs is to be provided to the Council in respect of the Biodiversity Action Plan. Activities must be undertaken within this allowance unless additional supplementary funding is identified at a later date”

Road safety

“A financial contribution of £136,000 is to be made to the Council for road safety and school crossing patrols over the 4 year construction period. Activities must be undertaken within this allowance unless additional supplementary funding is identified at a later date.”

Neighbourhood Enhancement

“A financial contribution of £349,500 is to be made to the Council in respect of the
extension of the LEN and H2020 programmes. Activities must be undertaken within this allowance unless additional supplementary funding is identified at a later date.”

What else?

How much more will be coming to Greenwich Council is an unknown but these announced sums seem very small for a project that’ll have such a huge impact.

Greenwich Council are now one of the only authorities to still support the project. Under its former leader Sir Robin Wales, Newham Council did support, but his replacement now opposes.

Greenwich Council still insist that their support is based upon a package of crossings though there are no signs of movement at any crossing plans at Thamesmead or Belvedere which appear shelved by Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Woolwich Ferry is receiving new boats later this year but it’ll hardly make a dent in overall capacity.

One big risk if this project is approved is a combination of construction disruption plus eventual tolls persuade many drivers to head further west to the free Rotherhithe tunnel completely clogging up Greenwich town centre and Deptford.

853 covered the issue of potential discounts for drivers on Jobseekers Allowance or Income Support, though this would wreck the traffic assumptions plans have been based on.

Models also expect significant traffic to come from Thamesmead which will add  more pressure to roads in Plumstead, Woolwich and Charlton.

It has also been revealed that should the tunnel be built fewer much-needed homes can be built on the Peninsula.

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J Smith

I've lived in south east London most of my life growing up in Greenwich borough and working in the area for many years. The site has contributors on occasion and we cover many different topics. Living and working in the area offers an insight into what is happening locally.

    5 thoughts on “Greenwich Council sign agreement with TfL on Silvertown Tunnel improvements

    • Ten years ago TFL chopped down the long established Poplar trees that lined the strip of land that sits between the A102 and rear gardens of houses in Tunnel Avenue. In their place they planted a motley selection of small trees and shrubs that do nothing to shield residents from the constantly queuing traffic into the Tunnel. I see there’s a money earmarked for sound barriers along Seibert Road. I don’t suppose there’s anything you’ve seen that suggests a similar scheme for Tunnel Avenue?

      Reply
      • Ah but you see, Tunnel Avenue residents are not as well heeled as those who live in the Siebert Road area where properties cost several thousand pounds more – some cases £200,000 plus. The Siebert Road solution is as a result of vociferous lobbying.

        Reply
    • I would bury the Blackwall tunnel approach road on both sides of the river and put a park on top.

      Its noisy, polluted and how is having 6 lanes of queuing traffic going to attract anyone to live all the new developments at North Greenwich and Poplar.

      Reply
      • Wouldn’t this simply move the “approach road” further south, transferring the problem to East Greenwich and Charlton? There will be queues of traffic there no matter how visible the road is – at least until more river crossings are built.

        Reply
    • A ‘FREE’ river crossing to the east of the Woolwich ferry is desperately needed.
      How can there be talk of tolled crossing for a new crossing in the east of London, but there are numerous crossings heading towards the west/Central?

      The problem of having another crossing by the O2 means that there is still a bottle neck at Woolwich/East Greenwich. People will have to drive west into East Greenwich use the crossing and drive back out to head East – pointless!

      Reply

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