Rotherhithe - Canary Wharf bridge scrapped

One of South East London's biggest, and most easily fixed, structural problems is the lack of river crossings, which results in a disconnect with the north of the city.

So, having already scrapped the Thames Gateway bridge and pulled the plug on the cross river tram, you might have hoped the Mayor would want to throw us a bone by supporting a bridge that even the Greens could get on board with.

A £65 million project to build a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf had been developed by Sustrans (the national cycling charity) and had been subject to a feasibility study by TfL, which concluded that the ideal location was between Durand's Wharf, a park on the Southwark bank, and Westferry Road. The planned lift bridge would have been able to raise itself to varying heights, depending on the nature of the craft passing underneath and would have linked to public transport networks on either side of the river.

But according to a Rotherhithe website dedicated to the project, Boris has decided not to fund it:

"A Southwark Council's Officer told participants of the "Transport Workshop" at the Canada Water Area Actions Plan (CWAAP) Public Meeting on 4 February 2009 that the Mayor of London has announced that Transport for London (TfL) will not be funding the Rotherhithe-Canary Wharf Thames Bridge Project. This is a great disappointment. Cllr. Paul Noblet and Simon Hughes MP have separately stated at last night's meeting that they will try see how they may help rescue this project."

Even with the Mayor's support, it's likely that the project would have been subject to revision, given the ambitious design and the delays that traditionally dog any London infrastructure project. However, the project had been gathering momentum and, since it would have provided an important new connection to Canary Wharf (a commercial district whose growth is being constrained by limited transport infrastructure), the project's supporters could have hoped to have raised some contributions from developers on both sides of the river. Without TfL backing, the project has no chance.

The decision to strangle the bridge at birth is more evidence that the Mayor doesn't do Keynesianism any more than he does East London.