The frontrunner to become London mayor, Labour’s Sadiq Khan has come out against the Enderby Wharf cruise liner terminal, backing the East Greenwich residents who are fighting for cleaner air.
In a rare moment of political unity, Mr Khan joins Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith, Lib Dem Caroline Pidgeon and the Green party’s Sian Berry in calling for a re-think of Greenwich’s offshore terminal.
The Labour candidate’s public statement against the Enderby Wharf is a blow for Labour run Greenwich council, which approved the planning permission in December last year.
Mr Khan’s support for campaigners comes as one unnamed resident prepares to take the council’s planning decision to London’s high court and the crowdfunding campaign for the legal proceedings tops more than £11,000.
Tomorrow a High Court judge is expected to decide on whether there is a case for a judicial review.
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Mr Khan said: “I praise the dogged campaigning of local residents in East Greenwich who are right to be fighting for cleaner air.
“Too many lives in London are blighted by filthy, polluted air and we should be doing more to clean it up, not risk making it worse.
“I back bringing everyone involved around the table to discuss how a clean solution to this can be found involving an onshore energy supply, and as Mayor I’ll work with residents, the developers, the council and the local MP, Matthew Pennycook, to make this happen.”
Residents believe there has been inadequate assessment of the development’s impact on air pollution.
Campaigners claim hotelling cruise ships which run their auxiliary engines burn at least 700 litres of diesel an hour - the equivalent of 688 permanently running HGVs.
Mayoral frontrunner Sadiq Khan.
The Green party’s Ms Berry was one of the first candidates to publicly voice her support for the crowdfunding campaign by the East Greenwich Residents Association.
Ms Berry described it as “astonishing” to see Labour-led Greenwich Council and current Tory mayor Boris Johnson uniting to “force a cruise terminal on the unwilling residents of Greenwich”.
She said: “I congratulate the brave resident who is standing up to Greenwich Council by applying for judicial review, and I fully support the wider community in its bid to raise financial backing.
“If I’m elected to City Hall in May, I will endeavour to rectify this mess so that local people – not to mention the occupants of the new homes being built next to the terminal – are not put in danger.”
Sian Berry and Natalie Bennett.
A spokesman for the council said: “The Royal Borough of Greenwich has always followed due process relating to this planning application and this includes the independent monitoring of air quality.
“We believe that our decision making process was correct and will robustly defend it.
“As this remains a legal matter, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”
The developer, London City Cruise Port, added: “We are aware that the issue of the Enderby Place planning permission by RBG has been challenged and whilst that legal process is being conducted, we are unable to make any further comment.”
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