The lift on the south side of the Woolwich Foot Tunnel went out of service earlier this month, joining the north lift that has been broken since 2022.
Greenwich Council has said it is working with Newham Council to get the Woolwich Foot Tunnel lifts working again but it has given no solid timeline as to when the repair work will be completed.
The Woolwich Foot Tunnel sits in the north of Greenwich borough and connects Woolwich on the south bank of the River Thames to North Woolwich in Newham. The lift on the north side of the tunnel has been out of action since August 21, 2022 and the southern lift went out of service on April 13 this year according to Greenwich Council’s website. Greenwich Council is responsible for the maintenance of the tunnel and its lifts, but the tunnel under the Thames is jointly owned by Greenwich and Newham.
The saga to repair the north lift has been ongoing, with both councils getting into a disagreement over how the work would be funded last summer. Greenwich Council’s deputy leader cllr Averil Lekau had previously said she expected the tunnel’s north lift to be repaired last June.
In a transport and place scrutiny meeting in July 2024, she said that the borough shared a 50 per cent financial responsibility for the foot tunnel with Newham, and that the Greenwich cabinet had agreed to a £180,000 contribution on lift repairs and £65,000 on safety improvements.
She also said that the council needed Newham “to agree to cough up a similar amount” but claimed the borough council was reluctant to do so because it would put them in a “really compromised financial position”. A Newham Council spokesperson at the time said that they were “disappointed” with these remarks and stated that they did not fairly represent the situation.
However, as reported by The Greenwich Wire, the councils put aside their differences and reached an agreement to share costs following a meeting on July 31 last year. A Greenwich council spokesperson told the news outlet that works to repair the lift would hopefully be completed by January 2025.
That time has come and gone, and now the south lift is out of service as well. In response to questions as to why the repairs have taken so long, Greenwich Council has stated that the age of the 113-year-old tunnel has contributed to the length of time it is taking them to repair the lifts.
A 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 are working with Newham Council, which has joint ownership with us, to get the lifts up and running soon.
“The council remains committed to our transport strategy, and there is a plan underway to regenerate both the Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels, including replacing the lifts, and installing barriers. A new lift servicing and maintenance contract is also currently being organised.”
