We’re coming to the end of Transport for London’s application to build the Silvertown Tunnel.
The public examination into the scheme – effectively a fast-tracked planning inquiry – closed on 11 April. The inspectors have three months to give their recommendations to the Secretary of State for Transport, then we should get a final decision by early autumn.
We’ve had volunteers present at most of the hearings since the process began back in October. The examination – which has been very thorough – has uncovered flaws and contradictions in TfL’s case for building the tunnel and charging for both it and the Blackwall Tunnel.
The process is, in part, meant to resolve problems with the scheme and encourage parties to find common ground.
But the boroughs – even those that support the tunnel – are still unhappy with TfL’s traffic modelling, upon which its predictions of congestion and pollution depend. TfL has also been making some late changes to the scheme, which raise new questions about the validity of its modelling.
While we wait for the final decision, we’d like to thank all those who wrote to the Planning Inspectorate to offer their reasons why the Silvertown Tunnel should be rejected.
You can see all the papers and submissions on the Planning Inspectorate website.
Terry Grant air quality studies
Four local groups – based in and around Beckenham, Blackheath, Brockley and Eltham – carried out air quality studies a few weeks ago thanks to money donated at the funeral of one of our volunteers.
Terry Grant, who died last July, helped us with our original air quality studies in 2013 and 2014.
We wanted to honour his memory, so funded some groups that hadn’t done air quality studies before so they could measure the pollution in their own areas.
The groups carried out their studies in March, and we’re looking forward to seeing the results. Thanks to Andrew Wood at Network for Clean Air for helping us and the groups with these studies.
What happens next? Come to our annual general meeting
We’d like to invite you to No to Silvertown Tunnel‘s annual general meeting. It’ll be at Mycenae House, Blackheath, on Tuesday 16 May at 8pm.
With the end of the planning process near, we’ll need to make some decisions about the future of the campaign. Here’s the agenda for the meeting.
Mycenae House is 10 minutes’ walk from Westcombe Park station (trains from Cannon Street, Greenwich and Woolwich Arsenal) and close to bus routes 53, 54, 108, 202, 380, 386 and 422.
There’s a licensed bar, which will also be open after the meeting.
So please come along – it’ll be great to see you. As always, if you have any questions, please drop us a line on info@silvertowntunnel.co.uk.