As a revelation, I know the following will rank alongside the religion of the Pope and the sanitary habits of bears in woods. But Greenwich Council has not been straight with us.
They promised to give three months' notice of the dates when the foot tunnels would be closed. In fact, they gave eleven days. The closure - between 9pm and 6am weekdays in Greenwich, and between 6.30am and 8pm weekdays in Woolwich - was announced on April 8. It took effect this Monday, April 19.
I particularly enjoyed the council's claim that "alternative crossing arrangements have been made to reduce the impact of these closures." No new crossing arrangements have been made. The only alternatives are those which already existed - the erratic Woolwich ferry, and the Thames Clipper riverbus between Masthouse Terrace and Greenwich piers.
The last departure on the latter is at 11.18pm northbound, and 12.37 southbound. There is also the DLR, but that shuts before 1am too, and does not carry cyclists, a big component of the tunnel's users. There will be no way at all of crossing the river at Greenwich for more than five hours.
And I mean no way. To add to the pain, this week it emerged that "Transport for Livingstone" is further extending its highly controversial closures of the Blackwall Tunnel. The tunnel is already closed to southbound traffic between 9pm and 5am, five nights a week, and between 1am and 8am on Sundays. Now, it will be closed the entire rest of the weekends, too. The exact number of weekends is still to be announced. Who knows, maybe it'll be all of them!
The closures will run continuously from 9pm on Friday to 5am on Monday, meaning that this vitally important tunnel will spend more hours in the week closed than it spends open. The next step, no doubt, will be the arrival of men in white boiler-suits and gas-masks to seal Greenwich off with giant plastic sheeting, like in the film Outbreak.
The Blackwall closures will last until 2012 and the foot tunnel a fair while, too. Last year one faithful Labour blogger, with a reliable record of being wrong about most things, bought the council's spin that the foot tunnel closures would be "short." The shutdowns will, in fact, last for at least eleven months - even longer than I predicted. And it was only sustained pressure from Greenwich Cyclists and others, including this column, that persuaded the council to keep the Greenwich tunnel open at all during the day. Woolwich users, lacking the same voice, have been stuffed.
Despite the damage limitation exercise we managed to do, the whole foot tunnel project still makes me very angry. It symbolises, on a local scale, our rulers' addiction to spending money we do not have on things that we do not need.
For the £11.5 million the project is costing us, we get not just months of disruption, but a finished facility in some ways significantly worse than before. The claimed objectives of the refurb include “improved safety” and a “more welcoming environment.” The council's own study showed that the main deterrent to use of the tunnels was that people felt unsafe using them, especially at night. But this project will see the lifts permanently de-staffed and all human presence removed.
For £11.5 million, we could afford to double-staff both tunnels, with a lift operator or security guard at each end, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the next 23 years. That might be worth spending money on. It would even create a few jobs, as well as improved "safety and welcoming."
Instead, at Greenwich, our money is paying for "feature lighting" to “allow colour and animation to be subtly manipulated to create different moods at different times of the day." This will provide “the infrastructure for contemporary art installations so that the tunnels can contribute to cultural life in the locality.” Walking through the tunnel will become "an event in itself." Let's hope the event's not a mugging, eh?
I’d have thought walking through (which I haven’t done for a very long time) the tunnel was already an event in itself, it is a very atmospheric place – it will probably lose that in these developments.
I am horrified by what you’re telling us about the BT. I want a public apology for all the times that the need for another crossing was ignored. I want compensation. I want to stop paying council tax to Greenwich council and the GLA or whoever else gets it – in fact could we all do that, they can’t send us all to jail, esp if we sit on Blackheath holding up placards saying ”already imprisoned”.
I’m in a state of disbelief over the Blackwall Tunnel Closure, particularly the fact that it will be closed ALL WEEKEND for MONTHS. Is there any possibility that if more people knew about this something could be done?
Andrew, I don’t disagree with most of what’s here – the closure are not good, and nor is the lack of notice.
But “Transport for Livingstone”. Why? Boris was voted Mayor fully 2 years ago. When does what TfL does become his responsibility?
“Transport for Livingstone” is my way of getting at Boris for doing so little to change TfL’s culture since he was elected mayor. The tidal flow in the Blackwall was a manifesto pledge. It operated perfectly safely for years. But anti-car TfL officials successfully bounced the mayor into going back on his promise.
Was it not the Met’s refusal to police it that killed it off?
No – but in any case it is not the Met’s job to decide what policies it will or will not police.
We all need to go along to this:
TfL is holding a public meeting about safety improvement works in the northbound road tunnel on Saturday, May 15 at the Vue cinema at The O2, Greenwich Peninsula, from noon until 1.30pm.
TfL will also hold a public meeting in The East Wintergarden, Bank Street, Canary Wharf on Friday, May 14, from 6pm until 7.30pm.
Pass the message on!
Isn’t the Blackwall tunnel mainly concerned with pointless upgrades like yet more CCTV?
Luella – As much as I can’t stand Greenwich council they can’t be blamed for no extra crossings. The Thamesmead bridge would have done alot to alleviate traffic at Blackwall, and was strongly supported by greenwich but opposed by Bexley council led by the Ian Clement and Boris Johnson. Jonhson made Clement his deputy mayor after election before Clement was convicted of fraud and sacked.
Now we are back to square one with vague promises of something being done in the future. Nonsense like extra ferries is spouted.
Blackwall Tunnel closure and now Greenwich council have informed me Norman Road will be closed until September more traffic jams at the
Greenwich one way system
Re: the foot tunnel
“And it was only sustained pressure from Greenwich Cyclists and others, including this column, that persuaded the council to keep the Greenwich tunnel open at all during the day.”
Wouldn’t it make more sense to close it during the day when there’s actually an alternative? And allow free use of the DLR between Greenwich and Mudchute for everyone, including bikes? Plenty of room now it’s 3 carriages.
This would also allow for longer working hours (tunnel would only need to be open, say, midnight till 6am) and presumably daytime work is cheaper than night work. Quicker and cheaper completion.
Cheaper still if they forget about [insert expletive here] art installations. Come on… the tunnel is full of character already! Every walk through is “an event in itself” already, I reckon. (And part of that event is the lift operator, if you’re lucky enough to find a working lift.)
And how many films and music videos already use it as a location for its aesthetics?! Surely there’ll be a lot less income from film crews once its character is hidden behind the ‘art’.
Spencer Drury claims it’s the fault of a “change in EU regulations” that mean the tidal flow through Blackwall Tunnel can’t be re-instated. Gilligan says it’s ‘anti-car TFL officials’. Surely, somewhere there must exist the actual official answer as to why it’s not happened.
This is total rubbish, I use the foot tunnel to cycle home in the evenings and it has really made a mess of how I travel. After being away on holidays I have come back to a nightmare. According to Greenwich Council it is chargable to use the clipper service which appears according to their website to be more expensive than the DLR. £3.20 for 2 minutes on the ferry is a rort. I can’t believe Greenwich council doesn’t care about the people who rely on this tunnel to be open. I’m effectively forced off my bike for nearly a year unless I want to ride all the way out past City Airport or Tower Bridge. The cost to me is over £15 per week which will be £720 by the time we learn the project is going to run 6 months late.
WHY IS THE CLIPPER NOT FREE BETWEEN MASTHEAD PIER AND GREENWICH!!!!
According to signs at both ends of the Greenwich foot tunnel, both staircases will be closed “until further notice” from Wed Jun 9, to enable scaffolding work to take place. Access to the tunnel will be by lift only, and if one of them breaks down (as seems to happen with monotonous regularity), the tunnel will be closed.