So when we say “stop the Silvertown tunnel,” we also mean: shift transportation policy from cars to public transit and non-automotive modes.
On the one hand it is about air pollution, on the other it is about climate change and energy policy. These issues cannot be dealt with separately.
Just as the mayor talks about air pollution, he talks about climate collapse.But big road projects are not in line with the climate goals set by the mayor, let alone stricter goals Developed by climate scientists at the Tyndall Center.
In 2018, the Mayor announced a goal of making London “carbon-free” by 2050. These goals were not set based on climate science and are problematic. But even these goals will only be achieved after the transport department begins an ambitious plan to reduce car use.
fossil fuel intensive
Mayor announced in January new goalachieve the so-called “net zero“By 2030. He also commissioned Research The transport sector scenario makes this possible. Under the relevant scenario, traffic would have to fall by 27% to 40% by 2030.
Such a drastic reduction in car use would really help address the climate issue. But the question is: if you’re really going to make them, why on earth are you pushing forward with a new road project to make room for more cars?
As any traffic researcher will tell you, if you solve traffic problems by building more roads, you get more traffic. Then the construction industry came up with more new paths. And this is happening.
If the Yincheng Tunnel is built, the next project the government will consider will be lower thames estuary, a six-lane, 22km motorway with a tunnel under the Thames near Gravesend. Cost: £8.2bn.
Now, a bit about local and global. The cumulative effect of the Global North Road Project and other fossil fuel-intensive infrastructure is not only compromising the health of local children, but also the lives and health of people in the Global South.
ask
a powerful explain Newham councillor Suga Thekkeppurayil demonstrates the connection outside Transport for London headquarters in Stratford in August 2020.
Councillor Suga gave a brief speech about fossil fuel use in the global north, and the strengthening of projects such as the Silvertown Tunnel, which has driven people from their homes in Bangladesh.
while in That year, 20202.5 million people were internally displaced, mostly temporarily, in Bangladesh and India, and 2.8 million homes were damaged by Cyclone Amphan – a storm more likely caused by climate collapse.
You can imagine the health consequences of such a terrible upheaval.
Conservationists in south-east London have been campaigning against the Silvertown tunnel project for a decade, including a massive effort ahead of a public inquiry in 2017.
Target
In 2019, energy injection Activity A new wave of climate protests led by Friday for the Future and Extinction Rebellion against the tunnels.
Our campaign has yet to achieve its main goal of halting tunnel work. But I think we’ve made progress on three fronts.
We present an ongoing challenge to greenwashing. Politicians at City Hall went to great lengths to display the tunnel as climate-compliant. We strongly protested this. Some false claims are now the subject of complaints to the local government ombudsman.
We also challenged the Global Alliance of C40 Cities, backed by the Mayor of London.
In 2016, the coalition released a report warning that new transport infrastructure could seriously undermine a city’s chances of meeting climate goals.
democracy
But then the coalition allowed the London mayor’s office to misuse its letter and disguise a report by engineering firm Arup as an independent assessment of the mayor’s climate strategy. The challenges posed by our campaign make it harder for politicians to dress climate-damaging policies as green.
We challenge the undemocratic attempt to block discussion of the tunnel project. In Greenwich, senior MPs and parliamentary legal officials have repeatedly told us over the past two years that discussing the tunnel will go beyond the legal and statutory powers of parliament. This is obviously nonsense, and we question it.
Thanks to our campaign, and the efforts of our Labour friends, we finally persuaded Parliament to hold a discussion.Then, in March, Greenwich Call Ask the Mayor of London to suspend and review the project, as Newham Council has done before.
Last Thursday, the London Parliament vote Ask the mayor to commission a simulation exercise that will cover a situation where drivers using the Silvertown Tunnel don’t pay any tolls — a situation the mayor’s office has consistently falsely claimed will never happen.
These are not only the successes of our campaign, but also the claims of local democracy at a time when government is under constant attack.
Community
We foster unity around a potentially divisive issue. The construction industry, driver lobby and climate change deniers have long painted opponents of the road project as deranged extremists who want to make life miserable for the average driver.
We have successfully solved this problem. We’ve shown that the average family with a car needs more public transport and options for walking and cycling so we can use the car less often.
We’ve convinced a lot of people that there are ways to make transportation policies that benefit everyone, and the Silvertown Tunnel isn’t one of them.
To oppose tunnels, we have united community organisations; transport workers, teachers and other union members; political parties, including Labour, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats; health practitioners; and climate, transport and urban development researchers.
We’ve quarantined the shameful supporters of the tunnel project.
Unite
We have to be honest: we may not win our battle. Our coalition has said many times that we will fight to the end, when the TBMs that are being assembled on site until now are put down and started to drive the tunnel.
Until then, it’s entirely realistic to ask the mayor to suspend and cancel the project. These machines can be sold on the international market and draw a line under the loss. February Green and Liberal Democrats London Parliamentary Member suggested The London Budget Amendment will cover these costs and save hundreds of millions of pounds.
The Riverlinx consortium initially said boredom would start this spring. Then May or June. Then it was “all summer”. So we have to keep trying.
If the boring machine starts working, our organizing group is committed to holding further gatherings to discuss what we do next. Because if the tunnel continues, we will still do everything in our power to resist road-centric transport policies, pollution and climate collapse.
So we will try to build on our challenges to greening and undemocratic practices and build on the solidarity we have already achieved.
this author
This article is based on a presentation by Simon Pirani at the Silvertown Tunnel Health Summit on Saturday and first appeared on People & Nature.Dr. Pirani is Block Silvertown Tunnel Alliancebut this article is his personal opinion.
