London mayor considers replacement for Thames Gateway bridge

London mayor Boris Johnson is investigating a new river crossing to replace the scrapped Thames Gateway bridge.

Deputy mayor Ian Clement told the Thames Gateway Forum that Johnson had asked Transport for London to examine new crossing at Silvertown.

He criticized the abandoned Thames Gateway bridge proposal as driven by “arrogance and misconception” and said that it was not affordable.

“The Thames Gateway [bridge] scheme is dead but we are looking at other options,” he said.

He defended the mayor's decision to abandon a variety of transport pledges made by the previous incumbent Ken Livingstone. He said: “We cannot continue to have false promises and a list of schemes that had never been funded and will never be funded in the near future. We have to concentrate on what is funded and can be delivered, particularly in the current economic climate.”

He said housebuilders would not necessarily have been able to build the new homes to accompany the extension of the Docklands Light Railway to Barking Riverside for some time.

He also added that the Greater London Authority is reviewing land use planning in the Gateway as part of the London Plan. Building targets would be agreed with individual councils as part of the plan, he added.