Long-delayed work to fix the broken lift in the Woolwich Foot Tunnel should begin shortly and finally be completed “sometime within the next year”, a leading Newham councillor has said.
The lift on the 113-year-old tunnel’s north side has been out of order since August 2022, with the crossing from North Woolwich to Woolwich only accessible by stairs. Last year Greenwich Council, which jointly owns the tunnel with Newham but is responsible for its maintenance, said it expected the lift to be working by January.
However, an update to Greenwich’s transport scrutiny panel earlier this month suggested that it was waiting for Newham to sign an agreement over costs. Greenwich staff were “currently awaiting Newham to respond on Woolwich foot tunnel and sign deed of adherence to Woolwich tunnel parts replacement maintenance cost sharing”, a report said.
Neither council would comment on why the agreement had not yet been signed or why work had not yet begun – but both said they were committed to sharing the costs, which were put last year at £360,000.
Sarah Ruiz, Newham’s cabinet member for sustainable transport, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We are pleased to say that work should be getting under way shortly to repair the northern lift shaft.
“Both Newham and Greenwich are sharing the cost of repairs, which fall outside of the routine maintenance agreement for the tunnel. We hope to have the works completed sometime within the next year.”
A Greenwich Council spokesperson said: “The Grade II listed Woolwich Foot Tunnel is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The structure is well over 100 years old now and requires specialist maintenance.
“We’re sorry that there have been issues with the lifts, which are challenging to resolve due to the age and complexity of the structure. We have received a commitment from Newham Council, to split costs 50/50 and get the lifts up and running. We will be sharing plans on next steps and timelines, in due course.”
The update to Greenwich Council’s transport scrutiny committee also said officers had asked City Hall’s walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman for a meeting “to move this forward”. The LDRS understands that officers from Greenwich Council and Transport for London met last Wednesday.
The joint ownership of the Woolwich tunnel, along with its neighbour at Greenwich – which is shared with Tower Hamlets – has been a source of trouble for years. An argument over the costs of the Woolwich repairs was revealed by The Greenwich Wire last summer.
Both tunnels were built by the London County Council for dock workers, but were handed to the boroughs when its successor, the Greater London Council, was abolished in 1986, and not taken back by Transport for London when it was created in 2000.
Additional editing by Darryl Chamberlain. Nick Clark is the local democracy reporter for Newham, based at Social Spider CIC. The Local Democracy Reporting Service is a BBC-funded initiative to improve coverage of local councils.
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