Health workers handing in a letter to Sadiq Khan and the London assembly
(Picture: Twitter/@SilvertownTn)More than 100 GPs, hospital doctors and health workers on Thursday accused Sadiq Khan of planning an “assault on the health of east Londoners” by pressing ahead with the Silvertown tunnel.
A protest was taking place on Thursday morning outside the new City Hall – only yards from where the northern entrance to the £2.2bn “inner city motorway” is being constructed.
A letter signed by 125 current and retired health professionals was being submitted to the mayor as he appeared before the London Assembly to present his annual budget.
Campaigners are holding a week of action against the tunnel, which would link north Greenwich and Newham. This will continue on Thursday night with a protest at Greenwich council and will culminate with a rally outside City Hall on Saturday.
Mr Khan believes building the tunnel will ease congestion and pollution from vehicles queueing to use the Blackwall tunnel.
In the letter, the medics say they “are at a loss to understand” how building the Silvertown tunnel fits in with the Mayor’s policy of reducing car use by 27 per cent by 2030.
They wrote: “We all view the proposal to build this tunnel as an assault on the health of East Londoners and on the climate.
“We urge you to put a stop to it, to invest the money in projects that will benefit people’s health and reap the rewards of savings to the NHS that such beneficial policies would bring.
“We are sure that you will want to leave a positive legacy as London Mayor and not be remembered as the one responsible for the Silvertown Tunnel with all of the inevitable pollution and greenhouse gases which will blight the health and wellbeing of those who live nearby.”
It is estimated that 20,000 and 30,000 more cars, vans and trucks a day will drive past will drive past homes and schools when the tunnel opens.
Newham is the most polluted borough in the country with Tower Hamlets not far behind.
Dr Jackie Applebee, chair of the Tower Hamlets local medical committee, told the Standard: “It will temporarily ease the congestion around the Blackwall tunnel area, but all the evidence shows that eventually opening new roads just increases traffic flow.
“This will happen in Newham – one of the most deprived boroughs and one with some of the worst air pollution in the country.”
Mr Khan says the fact that the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnels will be tolled will reduce traffic. But campaigners point to two legal opinions showing that the tolls could be overturned by future mayors.
City Hall says that a TfL analysis of polluted locations found that, where a “perceptible change” was expected to result from the opening of the tunnel, none were at schools.
It said there would be a dedicated bus lane in the tunnels, with up to 37 buses an hour in each direction.
Seb Dance, Mr Khan’s deputy mayor for transport, who met campaigners last week, said: “The Silvertown Tunnel will transform the way people can travel in a part of London that currently has few options for getting across the river.
“In addition to providing new zero-emission cross-river bus services for an area in need of them, the tunnel will massively reduce the chronic congestion problems currently associated with the inadequate, Victorian-era Blackwall Tunnel.
“Both tunnels will be tolled and, when combined with our overall policy of reducing car use across Greater London in favour of active and public transport options, the Silvertown tunnel will help reduce congestion and poor air quality around the Blackwall Tunnel area without increasing the volume of traffic crossing the river.”
