London mayor urged to halt Silvertown tunnel scheme at 11th hour

theguardian.com:

The mayor of London is being urged to make an 11th hour intervention and halt plans for a new four-lane road tunnel under the River Thames that opponents say would worsen pollution and exacerbate the climate crisis.

Tunnelling equipment is on site on the banks of the Thames, and work on the £2bn Silvertown tunnel is due to start in the coming weeks.

But the scheme has faced widespread opposition from local people, politicians, climate scientists and medical experts who say it would increase traffic and worsen public health in some of the most deprived boroughs in the country. They also say it will lock in high carbon transport for generations to come.

Siân Berry, a Green party member on the London assembly, said it was still not too late for Sadiq Khan to change his mind.

“This is the mayor’s very last chance to stop this and save the majority of the project costs … if he stops the tunnelling machines now, he can avoid not only creating traffic and pollution across the wide area of London, but also avoid wasting money on a project that belongs in the last century.”

Simon Pirani, an honorary professor at the University of Durham and member of the Stop Silvertown Tunnel campaign group, agreed: “It is still not too late to cancel this project, which will be so damaging and will exacerbate the local air pollution problems and undermine London’s efforts to meet its climate targets.”

The tunnel is due to be built near the existing Blackwall tunnel in east London and would carry four lanes of traffic – two in each direction. The Guardian revealed the project could cost more than £2bn over the next three decades if it went ahead.

Opponents privately acknowledge the chances of stopping the tunnelling at this stage are slim but say the