STOP THE SILVERTOWN TUNNEL
MEDIA RELEASE 10.00 WEDNESDAY 7 OCTOBER 2020
CLEAR MAJORITY OF LONDONERS SAY NEW INVESTMENT SHOULD GO ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT – NOT A THAMES TUNNEL
NEW SURVATION OPINION POLL
On the eve of national CLEAN AIR DAY, a new London-wide opinion poll just out from Survation reveals that:
When asked whether there should be an additional car tunnel across the Thames, a clear majority of Londoners – 60% – said the investment should go on improving public transport, safer cycling and walking.
The opinion poll also shows Londoners believe a new cross-river road tunnel will INCREASE, not decrease, car use. See attached poll summary.
The controversial Silvertown Tunnel is a planned £2bn four-lane Thames road crossing from Greenwich Peninsula north-east to Silvertown. The project was conceived during the period when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London. However Transport for London and Mayor Sadiq Khan continue to back the tunnel. The projected cost has now doubled from the original estimate of £1bn.
“This is an outdated project that has no place in a time of climate emergency, and the increasingly clear evidence of the harm to people’s lungs caused by air pollution from cars and HGVs,” says Victoria Rance, spokesperson for the cross-party Stop the Silvertown Tunnel Coalition.
“In this time of pandemic, the ballooning cost to London taxpayers is not acceptable and the public agree that the money would be better spent on new investment in public transport, safer cycling and walking.” she said.
“How tragic then that the cash-strapped Transport for London is actually cancelling some improvements to London’s public transport network, while going ahead with this massive expenditure on a road tunnel, which, according to TFL’s own figures, will actually increase London’s carbon emissions.”
“Tfl has already cancelled vital carbon-reducing public transport projects including the Bakerloo line extension and the Canary Wharf Rotherhithe cycle and pedestrian bridge. The DLR to Thamesmead is threatened, and there’s no money to repair the Rotherhithe Tunnel. But the Mayor is still pursuing this carbon-intensive scheme to support private car use.”
The Stop the Silvertown Tunnel Coalition calls on the London Mayor to cancel the tunnel project now, before it locks East and South-East London into high levels of heavy motor traffic, air pollution and carbon emissions for decades to come.
For further comments and interviews:
Simon Pirani simonpirani@gmail.com
Victoria Rance victoriarance@btinternet.com
twitter @silvertowntn
website Stop Silvertown Tunnel Coalition
To download a PDF of the above text, click here.
To download a PDF of the above slides showing the poll results, click here.
Previously (24/01/2020) Click here to download the PDF (2.41Mb)
Stop the Silvertown Tunnel 