Greenwich Council has been accused of "betraying" Eltham residents by "shelving" £1billion plans to extend the DLR to the area.

Proposals to bring the line to Eltham were driven forward by Greenwich Council in 2010 with cash spent on two feasibility reports.

Its route would offer a new tunnel river crossing and would run from Silvertown, emerging on the Peninsula to meet the BTSA on the east side and then running along the centre of the A2 on an elevated structure.

But Greenwich Conservative Leader Councillor Spencer Drury has revealed the council never presented a key report to the Mayor of London and TfL, despite being asked for it.

Coun Drury said: "I feel the council quietly shelved the plans, not even contacting the Mayor with the second report despite his willingness to consider an extension.

"If they’d bothered sending the report, Eltham may even have been some of the way towards having a DLR extension by now.

"It is simply another betrayal of the people of Eltham."

He added the council were treating residents in the south of the borough like "fools" while spending around £9m  on Woolwich's Crossrail station.

He claims when grilled on the issue, council chiefs said they were waiting to see what the Mayor’s plans on the controversial Silvertown tunnel link - near to the Blackwall crossing - would be.

It comes as studies by campaign groups’ No to Silvertown Tunnel (NtST) and Don’t Dump on Deptford have shown air pollution in the area is two-and-a-half times over European legal limits.

The groups warn these levels will increase if more pressure is piled on to the road network with a new tunnel.

Darryl Chamberlain, from NtST, said: "Local politicians are backing dangerous plans for the Silvertown Tunnel rather than taking a stand against the lethal air pollution that blights our communities, and the traffic that causes it.

"A new tunnel will only bring extra traffic - it won't bring relief from congestion or pollution."

To view the results of the studies visit silvertowntunnel.co.uk.

A Greenwich Council spokesman said: "Greenwich Council remains committed to improving public transport links across the whole of the borough.

"We have already fought hard to bring the first DLR and Tube links to the borough and are delighted that accessibility in the Royal Borough will shortly be transformed by the arrival of Crossrail.

"We have looked closely at the possibility of a DLR extension into Eltham including commissioning feasibility studies into the proposal.

"We remain fully committed to this work - which has to be part of a wider ‘jigsaw’ of transport links for the borough.

"Since this work started TfL announced it was exploring new river crossings. We have consistently argued that any new river crossings should have provision for public transport and that the inclusion of the DLR ought to be considered.

"Making all parts of our borough as accessible as possible for residents and businesses remains a key priority and the DLR study was part of this.”