When Silvertown opens, Blackwall tolls start too

The entrance to Silvertown which opens on 7 April

In under a month, tolls will be introduced for drivers at the new Silvertown Tunnel and the existing Blackwall Tunnel in east London.

For car drivers it will cost £8 a day in peak. These are huge changes to London's transport network and awareness seems to be low.

The new highly controversial Silvertown Tunnel opens on 7 April.

Critics have dubbed the crossing a huge polluting white elephant that will do nothing to cut congestion and pollution with little or no business case.

Supporters say it will reduce congestion on the old, existing Blackwall Tunnel and improve resilience on the crossing that closes between 600-700 times a year. It will also provide more cross river bus routes as well as a bus that can carry bikes.

Even now with just three weeks to its opening, it is the subject of much rancour and debate.

It will cost £8 per day for those commuting to work and back

The Silvertown Tunnel is 1.4km (just under one mile) long and stretches from Silvertown in Newham to the Greenwich Peninsula. It is within the Ulez zone.

The Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan reviewed the scheme when he came into office.

Sir Sadiq gave the tunnel the go-ahead, funded with a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) against future earnings. The cost was £2.2bn.

Transport for London (TfL) will pay back £100m a year through the toll revenue.

Liam Davis organised a petition against the tolls which now has 47,500 signatures.

He said: "There remains both a sense of outrage and an air of resignation that tolls will commence on both tunnels but most opposition political parties have not adequately voiced their constituents' anger and frustration, either in Parliament or London Assembly.

"The 7th of April will be a watershed moment in many people's lives who have dedicated their working careers to roles, pupils or patients and colleagues they enjoy on the opposite side of the River Thames."

'More reliable'

TfL said the Silvertown Tunnel "will help manage air pollution and make journeys faster and more reliable, with journeys expected to be up to 20 minutes quicker at peak times".

The spokesperson added that the tunnel would support economic growth through "reduced queuing on the roads around the river crossings and allow TfL to increase the number of buses able to cross the river in this area".

Currently six buses make the crossing an hour in each direction, this will be increased to 21, the spokesperson said.

'Huge polluting white elephant'

Dominic Leggett from Stop Silvertown Coalition

But this scheme has been dogged with controversy since the beginning with many local residents, schools and campaigners opposing it.

TfL admits the construction of the Silvertown increases congestion and pollution but its solution is to introduce tolls to control the traffic.

Dominic Leggett from Stop Silvertown Coalition said: "Londoners need to know that the infrastructure increases traffic and it increases pollution."

He says the business case does not stack up.

"What happens is the Silvertown Tunnel makes things worse and the Blackwall Tunnel toll makes things better - adding those things together you get a little reduction in congestion."

He said they should have considered the environmental and economic impact of tolling Blackwall Tunnel compared to tolling Blackwall and building Silvertown Tunnel.

"If they did that they'd see the outcomes are a lot worse by building the Silvertown Tunnel.

"So effectively the Silvertown Tunnel is a huge polluting white elephant."

When Silvertown tunnel opens, tolls will come into force for both Silvertown and Blackwall

The mayor has tried to lessen the impact of the tolls with concessions and discounts for low-income residents in some parts of London.

There are also lower off-peak rates for those who register for the TfL Autopay app.

Charges will apply from 06:00 - 22:00, seven days a week in both directions.

There will be free bus journeys on three cross-river routes that serve Newham, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich (Route 108, 129 and SL4) - all of which will be zero-emission. They will be free for at least one year.

But the number of buses set to use the tunnels per hour was initially slated to be 37, now it will be 21.

In addition, cross-river journeys on the DLR  will also be refunded for at least one year. Cyclists can also use these DLR services during off-peak hours.

There is also a bus every 12 minutes that cyclists will be able to put their bikes on.

Tolls will be introduced on Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels

The Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan told me recently: "We mustn't pretend that the situation in that part of London is acceptable. It isn't.

"There is only one river crossing there - the Blackwall Tunnel made in the Victorian times that's built on a bend to stop horses bolting.

"It closes on average (about) 600 times a year. Every five-minute closure leads to a three-mile tailback.

"That means the one bus that does cross the river is the most unreliable bus in London. It leads to not just congestion but pollution.

"Our solution is a second tunnel, two lanes reserved for zero emission buses.

"Or you can use the DLR for free for at least a year. If they have a bike they can jump on a bus.

"We are going to monitor the air quality and congestion and my prediction is you'll see improvements and a better quality of life for people in south-east London."

Karin Tearle from Stop the Silvertown Pollution and Traffic

Indeed, the Silvertown Tunnel does have a bus lane but large HGVs will also be able to use it.

At the moment big HGVs can't use the northbound Blackwall Tunnel due to height restrictions.

Campaigners say it will just attract more HGVs to the area and about 20,000 extra vehicles a day will use the tunnel.

Residents also say the Blackwall approach roads are already saturated so if there is an incident at Blackwall the tailbacks could quickly block the approach to the Silvertown Tunnel, negating any benefits.

Local resident Patrick Ives said: "Congestion is a concern but we don't know how it will play out.

"We have new distribution centres that are unlet at the moment.

"They're going to require lorry access, the road infrastructure has not been improved."

He added that as the tunnel will be free at night more lorries could use it, creating more overnight congestion on local streets.

Karin Tearle from Stop the Silvertown Pollution and Traffic echoed this concern.

She added: "What concerns me is if they don't have the modelling and the monitoring to look at the data what will happen if they reduce or remove the tolls?

"I think this is public injustice and it's going to affect the health in Greenwich and Newham."

A pollution monitoring station close to the new tunnel

David Rowe is from TfL and told BBC London that Silvertown was "absolutely value for money".

"If you just look at the journey time savings, it's over £900m worth of savings. You add that reliability benefits you go up to £1.2bn. So there's huge benefits.

"This is all about how do we create those opportunities in that part of London."

He added that Silvertown would create more economic growth, something not possible solely with the Blackwall crossing as it closed regularly.

Public transport will also improve as there will be more bus services, he said.

Will the tolls be permanent?

According to legal advice obtained by campaigners, there is nothing to stop future mayors from changing the toll, reducing it or even getting rid of it altogether.

It also doesn't seem to be clear what the various concessions will do to traffic levels.

Dominic Leggett says removing the tolls would make everyone worse off.

"There is huge political resistance to the toll on Blackwall which is the only thing that is protecting residents from all the pollution and congestion that Silvertown causes.

"So it's quite likely that the next mayoral candidate will either reduce or remove the toll or just not increase it fast enough to deal with the increasing congestion and then everyone is worse off."

An artist's impression of the Silvertown entrance in Newham

A TfL spokesperson said: "TfL's extensive development work has shown the new crossing, user charge and cross-river bus network will help cut congestion, support sustainable growth of new homes and jobs, and deliver an overall improvement in air quality.

"We are committed to delivering an overall improvement in air quality due to reduced traffic delays and congestion as a result of this scheme.

"We began a comprehensive programme of Silvertown specific NO2 monitoring in 2020 to understand baseline conditions. This monitoring will continue for a minimum of three years post the tunnel opening."