Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan are being urged to scrap plans for the Silvertown Tunnel.

A group of experts, including transport planners and academics have said the tunnel with increase road use, therefore pollution levels will rise.

In a letter to Shapps and Khan, the group of 52 have called for an “emergency review” to be carried out to determine if the East London project is in line with the UK’s climate change objectives.

They argue that the new link – which will be for motor traffic only with no access for pedestrians and cyclists – is the wrong sort of infrastructure to be building if the UK is to get serious about the climate emergency.

But Transport for London and the mayor say the new road link will provide extra road capacity in the area and relieve the existing Blackwall Tunnel, which it parallels, reports the Independent and New Civil Emgineer.

The letter said “it would be foolhardy to press ahead with an infrastructure project that can only contribute to the UK’s excessive greenhouse gas emissions”. It also asks the mayor to “prioritise modal shift and public transport, not further expansion of the unsustainable road network”.

The 1.4km twin bored Silvertown Tunnel is set to be completed in 2025 and will connect south London with the Tidal Basin Roundabout in Silvertown, in a bid to relieve congestion at the Blackwall Tunnel.