London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of attempting to plug a £15bn black hole in Transport for London (TfL)’s finances, after it was revealed tolls on the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels would generate revenues of £123m.
The figure, which was given in a written response to a question from City Hall Conservatives, covers Silvertown’s first full financial year of operation in 2025. TfL will receive the revenues, less the cost of annual construction repayments and fees.
Thousands use the Blackwall Tunnel in south London but the Mayor has described it as “not fit for purpose.” The Silvertown Tunnel project is intended to relieve ongoing traffic jams at Blackwall, with charges at both levied to balance the flow of cars into the City.
In October, Khan had confirmed drivers would have to pay to use both Thames Crossings in order to prop up the construction of the £2bn Silvertown Tunnel. He has proposed setting the Blackwall fee at £5.25 but TfL say the level of charge has yet to be decided.
A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson argued that the “purpose of introducing a user charge for the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnels is to manage traffic effectively and deliver the expected environmental and economic benefits.”
“The planning consent requires TfL to manage traffic levels and environmental impact and introducing these charges has been a long-standing way to comply with the planning requirements.”
But City Hall’s conservative transport spokesman Keith Prince said Khan, who is chairman of TfL, was “waging war on motorists” to resolve TfL’s ongoing financial troubles.
The transport operator’s finances have become a political football in recent years, after it was forced to rely on government handouts to stay alive over the pandemic. Khan’s policy to expand the controversial ULEZ scheme last summer drew similar criticism from opponents.
“Motorists will pay TfL almost £1bn this year in road user charges including unfair ULEZ charges in outer London,” Prince said.
“Sadiq Khan now plans to make millions more for TfL by charging tolls on the Blackwall and Silvertown Tunnels,” he added, urging the Mayor to “come clean on how much motorists will pay to use these tunnels and how much of their toll will be used to prop up TfL finances.”
A source close to the Mayor, however, hit back at the Conservative party’s claims, describing them as “utter hypocrisy” and claiming that tolling at Blackwall was actually the “brainchild of Boris Johnson.”
“Sadiq has been clear that no decision has been taken on the level of Boris Johnson’s charge, but he wants to do far more to support local residents,” the source said.
City Hall published a preliminary report on the Silvertown Tunnel scheme in October 2015, when Johnson was Mayor, which proposed the toll at both crossings due to traffic levels and the environmental impacts of the scheme.
