The Mayor repeatedly refused today to reveal any estimate of the cost of cancelling the contract for the toxic Silvertown Road Tunnel when questioned by Green London Assembly member Sian Berry. [1]
The lack of this estimate will prevent Assembly members who oppose the £2.5 billion scheme from using their power to propose a costed amendment to the Mayor’s budget in the new year.
Sian Berry today complained that this secrecy and lack of transparency will block the exercise of the democratic powers of the London Assembly.
When pressed on the availability of an estimate by Sian Berry AM, the Mayor referred to a March 2021 audit of the project’s finances by Ernst and Young.[2] However, within this document, every piece of financial information on the cost of cancelling the project was dramatically redacted by the Mayor before publication.
Reports have found that the Silvertown Road Tunnel would increase London’s carbon emissions.[3]
Sian Berry said:
The Mayor is hiding the true cost of the Silvertown Road Tunnel contract, and this tramples on the Assembly’s power to amend his budget each year.
Elsewhere, the governments of both Wales and Scotland are reviewing their road-building plans in response to the climate emergency, and yet in London our Mayor’s response to this crisis remains to break ground on a new urban motorway.
There are now dozens of MPs, local authorities and councillors – including many from his own party – who are calling for the Silvertown Road Tunnel to be stopped. The Assembly must be able to work on their behalf and propose this in the formal budget process with the information we need.
Green London Assembly members have been campaigning to cancel the project for a decade. [4]
Last week, the Regeneration, Transport & Culture Scrutiny Panel at Greenwich Council voted for the tunnel to be paused and reviewed. [5]
Notes to editors
[1] Question by Sian Berry AM at Mayor’s Question Time, 16 Dec 2021 https://youtu.be/qUT5TjDDkb8
[2] Timeline of the Silvertown Road Tunnel contract and key documents:
November 2019 – Three candidates for Mayor wrote to the current Mayor asking for a delay on the project until after the (then) May 2020 election https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/london-mayor-rivals-demand-halt-to-silvertown-tunnel-plans-01-11-2019/
November 2019 – Silvertown Road Tunnel contract signed https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2019/november/tfl-completes-contract-with-riverlinx-consortium-to-design-build-finance-and-maintain-silvertown-tunnel
May 2020 - Heavily redacted contract published https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/silvertown-tunnel-project-agreement
April 2021 – TfL publishes Ernst and Young review of the contract and process which has only a heavily redacted explanation of the cancellation costs (appendix B – Page 56). There is no more detailed explanation of cancellation costs available. https://content.tfl.gov.uk/project-telford-final-report.pdf
[3] The Silvertown tunnel is in a hole, so stop digging. Transport Action Network, Stop the Silvertown Tunnel Coalition, Speak Out Woolwich, Extinction Rebellion Greenwich, June 2020 https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Stop-Digging-Report.pdf
[5] https://853.london/2021/12/10/tell-khan-to-stop-silvertown-tunnel-greenwich-councillors-demand/