Silvertown Tunnel: Newham Labour councillors prevent motion into alternative uses being debated

Labour councillors in east London voted to prevent the Silvertown Tunnel being debated at a recent meeting, with an opposition councillor saying he is “genuinely stunned” at the move.

Nate Higgins, one of two Newham Green councillors, described the vote as a “disgrace”, with the motion to be a “last-ditch attempt” to halt work on the tunnel’s second bore.

Newham Council had previously voted to oppose the construction of the tunnel in February 2022, and last October, passed a second motion in which it called on Sadiq Khan to prioritise cycling and public transport.

A version of the latter motion was also recently passed by Greenwich Council, meaning both directly impacted boroughs have called for the project to be repurposed.

The tunnel, which was approved by the mayor in 2016, will connect the Royal Docks in Newham with the Greenwich peninsula.

Earmarked to be completed by 2025, Mr Khan says it will help ease congestion around the Blackwall Tunnel. However, critics say it will result in a huge increase in vehicle journeys, with serious implications for the capital’s carbon budgets and air pollution.

At Wednesday’s (July 19) meeting, Newham Council was due to hear a new motion, proposed by Green councillor and leader of the opposition Danny Keeling, which called on the council to support investigating cancelling its second bore, to look into alternative uses, and to hold a workshop with Newham residents on the scheme.

However, Labour councillor Simon Rush proposed a motion of his own requesting it be removed, “as it echoes past objections we have raised over the years”.

He said the mayor has consistently opposed the scheme, and asked the chamber to instead “focus on maximising the Silvertown Tunnel’s environmental benefits”.

Responding, Cllr Higgins said: “I’m genuinely stunned to see Newham Labour councillors proposing to take off of this agenda a motion that is calling for a last-ditch attempt to stop a new road tunnel that will bring HGV traffic past primary schools into our borough. That is a disgrace.”

Cllr Higgins continued to say while it is too late to avoid any form of the Silvertown Tunnel, “it is not too late to stop there being a new road tunnel between Newham and Greenwich, and it is only right that this council consider a motion that calls for that”.

The proposal to remove the Green Party motion was passed regardless, as was another of the group’s agenda items, calling for mayor Rokhsana Fiaz to write to Mr Khan and Michael Gove regarding the MSG Sphere.

Following the meeting, Cllr Keeling said: “Labour’s true colours are finally being shown. We have not only had a speech from Newham Labour supporting the Silvertown Tunnel but we have also been silenced by Labour using their majority to strike our motion from the agenda.

“It’s not too late to stop this new toxic road tunnel and we wanted to see alternatives for repurposing the tunnel considered, but Labour have revealed themselves as a pro-toxic air, climate denying party. This could be the biggest polluting pipe we have seen since the Blackwall Tunnel. Greens will never stop fighting to stop the Silvertown Tunnel.”

A spokesperson for the Stop the Silvertown Tunnel Coalition added: “The climate emergency is upon us, scientists are telling us that London’s carbon reduction targets simply cannot be met if the tunnel goes ahead as planned.

“Newham is one of the most polluted boroughs in the country and the Silvertown Tunnel will bring 20-30,000 cars and juggernauts a day into Newham. We heartily welcomed the Labour motions in Newham and Greenwich calling first for a pause and review, and then for repurposing of the new tunnel but the mayor has not responded, and nothing has changed.

“Added to that perhaps the majority of Newham residents don’t even know about the Silvertown tunnel, nor that they will have to pay to cross the river at both the existing and new tunnels in 2025.”

Newham Council was approached for comment.

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