East London River Crossing (Hansard, 24 January 1994)

§ 5. Mr. Austin-Walker
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to make an announcement about the proposed east London river crossing.

§ The Minister for Transport in London (Mr. Steve Norris)
The relative priority for the east London crossing is being considered as part of the national review of the trunk road programme. I shall make a further announcement when the results of that review are known.

§ Mr. Austin-Walker
In view of the Minister's failure to give an assurance that the east London river crossing will not go through, over or under Oxleas wood, what action does he propose to reduce the blight on properties in Plumstead and Abbey Wood along the line of the original proposal? Is he prepared to publish and place in the Library the specifications of the transportation study for the south-east for which he has recently invited tenders? Does he welcome the results of the rail study published last week showing the cost effectiveness of the Woolwich rail tunnel link?
In view of the Secretary of State's earlier comments about the relative importance to London of public transport compared with roads, will the Minister now embrace the Woolwich rail tunnel link and the public transport alternative to the east London river crossing?

§ Mr. Norris
The hon. Gentleman will know that the Government rightly decided that the original proposals for the east London river crossing were inappropriate and withdrew them. That decision was widely welcomed. The hon. Gentleman is sensible enough to know that the underlying demand for improved transport, across the Thames in particular, still exists. In that context, it is 9 perfectly appropriate that the compulsory purchase orders should expire in November. The line orders will remain in place for a sensible reason. Much of the line of any proposed route in that area is, in a sense, self diagnosing and it would be quite unproductive to abandon the line orders. They also concentrate blight, such as there is, only on that line, rather than spreading it more widely, which would be the case if the formal line orders were abandoned.
The studies on possible rail links about which the hon. Gentleman spoke are useful. One of my Department's aims over the next few weeks will be to make sure that we take account of all the available options to improve crossings of the river east of the town.

§ Mr. Evennett
Does my hon. Friend agree that the number of road crossings of the Thames to the east of the city is inadequate and that the Blackwall tunnel is totally inadequate for the traffic currently using it? When my hon. Friend visited my constituency, he met many of my constituents in Thamesmead and Erith and many business people who were looking to him for proposals. Many local people would like to see another crossing of the Thames in our area.

§ Mr. Norris
My hon. Friend is right, but he will acknowledge that we now face propositions in relation to the docklands light railway extension to Lewisham, the Woolwich metro, the Blackwall third crossing, a full east London river crossing and a truncated river crossing. Rather than dealing with those on a piecemeal basis, it would be sensible to ensure that they are all evaluated so that the options that we pursue are the right ones to improve the infrastructure east of the town.

§ Mr. Raynsford
What discussions, if any, has the Minister had with interested parties about the possibility of paying for the construction costs of an east London river crossing by means of a toll? What are the implications for other river crossings? Will there also be tolls at Blackwall, Rotherhithe and Tower bridge? Will we soon have to pay tolls to cross Westminster bridge? Does the Minister admit that Tory transport policy, like Tory taxation policy, means everyone paying more?

§ Mr. Norris
As to the general proposition on tolling, I am sure that the hon. Gentleman knows that either the taxpayer or the user pays. There is general and common consent that it can be a useful way to provide funding. For example, the Dartford crossing was completed at least 10 years earlier than it would otherwise have been because the private sector was able to finance the construction from tolls. I have discussed generally, with officials in the Department and others, the idea that one or other of the new crossings over the Thames should be tolled. I did that because it seems to me perfectly sensible that we should do so. If the hon. Gentleman is now saying on behalf of his party that the Labour party has decided to reject the notion of congestion charging in London, I must tell him that, first, that contradicts what he said at a public meeting that we were at only a week ago; and secondly, that is an unwise hook for his party to have got itself on.