Silvertown tunnel street plans finally revealed for Greenwich – and ignores main problem

You may have forgotten but many years ago when the Silvertown tunnel was planned a small number of public realm measures were revealed in Greenwich.

That was back in 2018 and years later most haven’t appeared despite the entire £2.2 billion tunnel being constructed and even open since April. No rush.

But finally there are some further details. And well, as expected, it’s all rather small scale stuff that doesn’t address the biggest issues for those on foot and bicycle. And of course the major issue is completely ignored.

Lethargy in getting streetscape measures in place was probably a big enough clue that this just isn’t a priority for Greenwich Council and TfL.

So therefore it’s of little surprise that major issues of severance between north Greenwich, east Greenwich and Charlton beneath the A102 flyovers and footbridges are all but unaddressed in the consultation.

The little loved cycle shuttle bus sees few measures to improve the dangerous ride to reach it through Greenwich beneath the A102.

More homes but few improvements

Back when tunnel mitigation measures were first suggested as part of the £2.2bn project the Greenwich peninsula masterplan totalled 12,000 homes. Then it went up to 15,000. Now its above 17,000 with 3,000 homes around the edges at sites such as Morden Wharf and Enderby Wharf’s next phase.

All told including homes around east Greenwich up to 21,000 homes have recently been built or are planned – along with up to 8,000 in Charlton.

Still there’s next to no interest in improving many of the area’s streets despite most homes being car-free. What’s now under consultation backs that up.

It’s a mile away – both literally and figurately – from the many millions spent on improved streets on the northern bank of the Thames by Newham council and TfL.

Projects in Silvertown (see a video here) are seeing £26 million including £2.78 million Section 106 income and £5.5 million from the Community Infrastructure Levy. Greenwich would baulk at such a figure. This lot must be in the hundreds of thousands – at best.

Proposals

South of the Thames we see the re-emergence of long held plans such as an underpass on Siebert Road including some benches to watch traffic and raised planters that won’t be maintained.

Oh, the ambition.

They also propose planting beside the entrance to the underpass.

I’m calling it now: it will not be maintained, become strewn with litter, the planting will become overgrown obscuring the entrance to the underpass which will put pedestrians off using it. The complete opposite of what they claim to be encouraging.

There’s some very modest changes near Westcombe Park station, but really, is this the best they can do? See also a small pocket park on Farmdale Road.

One thing that sums up just how weak it all is concerns Horn Lane. There’s not even paving beside the road here on the direct route pedestrians would logically take. Are they rectifying that? No.

Basic measures to make life easier for those on foot are ignored. Some will say the consultation will help but it’s pretty clear the budget for improvements is next to nothing.

If anything some of it looks to further cement vehicle dominance including more guard railing. Because if nothing else Greenwich Council love more street clutter hampering those on foot.

There are some welcome other measures such as improvements to the patch of grass on Tunnel Avenue but it’s penny change stuff.

None of this addresses the elephant in the room which is traversing beneath the A102 on approach to the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels is awful on foot and bicycle.

You can go down Tunnel Avenue instead but it’s hardly much of an alternative.

In addition the Angerstein roundabout remains dismal and much of the road layout on the peninsula comprises large roundabouts with few safe crossings and of those that do exist, pedestrians often need take long detours to reach.

As stated above its so far away from what Newham and TfL are doing along much of north Woolwich Road as well as around the new road layout where the Silvertown tunnel exits in the north it’s laughable.

Could it be that Greenwich Council aren’t willing to fund improvements alongside TfL despite thousands of new homes in the area bringing many millions in income? Income now supplemented by the Greenwich LTNs (with revenue ringfenced for transport projects).

After all Newham have agreed to spend millions and so TfL have complimented funding. It’s a very different story south of the river.

Pass the buck

Greenwich Council’s officers and leadership often love to blame others and pass the buck insisting TfL need fund most if not all improvements when it comes to street works despite contrasting fortunes all over the capital where boroughs contribute and match-fund.

The planning department doesn’t help by regularly failing to allocate incoming income for local street and public space upgrades. Local knowledge often seems poor, to say the least. We saw that once again earlier in the summer when Greenwich planners bizarrely opted to allocate some Section 106 income from a new distribution warehouse towards bus stops on Bugsby’s Way.

There’s much wrong with that area but the bus stops aren’t one of them. Poor crossings, a lack of paths and a generally ugly streetscape are the issues. Fortunately Cllr David Gardner (Greenwich Peninsula – Labour) was on the ball. He’s sometimes one of the few councillors that is.

He argued the S106 allocation should instead go to other improvements that actually make some sense in regards to the local streetscape and fortunately that change was adopted. Greenwich planners and officers seemed ignorant of the area but all too often there isn’t a capable councillor to push them away from their lack of knowledge.

That lack of interest or knowledge has reared its head once again.

Given we’re seeing £26 million spent in Newham and next to nothing in Greenwich despite ample new development what’s the clear difference? It’s the disinterested council based at the Woolwich centre who fail time and again to invest many millions from thousands of new homes.

They can commission ever more reports on improving health, streets and reducing pollution at ever more expense but action? Allocating funding? It’s AWOL.

The consultants always do well out of them but when it comes to meaningful measures? Barely anything if they can’t get others to foot the bill. So why would TfL support Greenwich as they have other boroughs.

Click here to view and comment but don’t expect anything of substance soon. It’s more tokenistic measures that insults the area. £2.2 billion for a road tunnel and that’s all they can manage.

UPDATE: Just to add Newham are managing two major public realm projects using developer income currently alongside TfL with another at Stratford. Greenwich’s one project alongside TfL set to start in Charlton doesn’t make up for little action in Greenwich peninsula.

And even that project has been watered down so the Angerstein roundabout is all but untouched.

 

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