Campaigners have finally sunk plans for the controversial Enderby Wharf cruise-liner terminal going ahead which would have polluted a huge swathe of the Thames and the Isle of Dogs.
The developers have pulled out of building the terminal on the North Greenwich Peninsular, opposite Cubitt Town, in the face of widespread opposition and a petition signed by 10,000 objectors.
The ‘No Toxic Port’ campaign on both sides of the river including families at Cumberland Mills Square in Cubitt Town were aiming to present the petition to the developers’ “indirect owners” Morgan Stanley at Canary Wharf this week.
But Morgan Stanley instead has today written to Greenwich Council, the local planning authority, assuring that the Enderby site “would no longer include a cruise terminal”.
It means victory after a three-year fight to overturn a planning decision by Greenwich Council for the terminal to go-ahead.
It was only when retired MoD naval scientist Ralph Hardwick, whose Isle of Dogs home was facing the proposed terminal, pointed out the diesel emissions hadn’t been accounted for that the campaign restarted and went into overdrive.
“This is final—the terminal is dead and buried,” Ralph told the East London Advertiser.
“The publicity wouldn’t go down well for the developers with the petition which we are still waiting to present.
“People in Greenwich were not aware of the cruise-liner diesel emissions when I first got wind of the proposal in 2015, just the traffic nuisance.
“But I caught out Greenwich Council which hadn’t included the Thames in its air quality policy—there was no reference to emissions on the river.”
The stumbling block was over a lack of shore-to-ship electric supply in the original planning agreement which would mean cruise-ships running their diesel engines 24 hours-a-day while berthed, with the fumes sweeping across the river.
It caused a storm in Parliament in 2016 when Poplar and Limehouse MP Jim Fitzpatrick slammed Greenwich Council for passing the scheme in the first place. He warned the Commons that there was no pollution legislation for shipping and no regulation requiring onshore electricity.
Greenwich made a U-turn following last May’s local council elections and pressure from the Mayor of London.
Sadiq Khan today welcomed the scrapping of the cruise terminal over concerns on air pollution from diesel emissions, but insisted much more was needed.
He revealed: “I have called on the government to give City Hall the power to act on emissions from waterways to protect public health.”
Morgan Stanley today threw in the towel with their cruise terminal plans, in a letter to Greenwich Council’s regeneration director Pippa Hack. It said: “We are discussing revised plans as the indirect owner of the site that no longer include a cruise terminal at Enderby Wharf.”
They had “listened to the wider community” and taken on board the change of public opinion.
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