London mayor, ~Ken Livingstone~ has called for an early go-ahead for the Thames Gateway Bridge, following the public inquiry’s end last week.
The £380M project was vital to support new jobs and housing in local areas, he said. ‘A quick decision will also show that the planning process can move major projects forward within a reasonable timeframe, which is essential in ensuring that the future needs of London can be met,’ he said.
The mayor has the backing of surrounding boroughs for the controversial six-lane structure, although London’s Bexley council and local objectors challenged ~Transport for London~'s traffic modelling and estimation of the scheme’s economic benefits. The inquiry, which opened more than 12 months ago, had to be adjourned after TfL failed to take account of faster-than-average traffic growth in Bexley in its baseline traffic figures (Surveyor, 15 December 2005).
In its closing submission, TfL insisted its revised variable tolling regime would ensure bridge traffic did not overload local networks. It proposed a £3 peak charge, reverting to £2 inter-peak, for non-local traffic, together with a reduction in the discount area within Bexley. But councillors wanted ‘to have their cake and eat it’ by maximising Bexley-originating traffic, the inquiry was told. The council supported the project in principle, but wanted permission to be deferred, pending further modelling and agreement on mitigation measures. It was seeking a ring-fenced contingency fund of at least £2M additional mitigation measures which were ‘difficult to justify as essential or value for money’.
TfL also dismissed evidence commissioned by objectors – with £65,000 from the mayor’s budget – questioning the link with local jobs. Greater weight should be given to London First’s view that improved accessibility was critical to the development of East London, TfL argued. Rejecting Professor Phil Godwin’s call for further tests, TfL defended its traffic and cost-benefit projections. It accused the professor and other critics of the ‘very small’ modal transfer from public to private transport of ignoring ‘a marked increase’ in cross-river bus trips estimated at 1,600 in the morning peak, and substantial time savings for local cross-river journeys.
‘His confidence that traffic reduction policies can and will work is encouraging, but it does not undermine, much less remove, the need for the TGB,’ TfL concluded. The inspector’s report is expected to go to the Government by October.
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