Julia Lopez MP has demanded that Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan provide full details of the costs, decisions and delays behind the Gallows Corner flyover project.
Mrs Lopez has written to the Mayor following meetings with senior representatives from Transport for London and Essex & Suffolk Water, after more than a year of disruption for residents and businesses across Havering.
The project was originally expected to be completed by September 2025 but remains unfinished, with work to repair and test the replacement water main continuing before the site can be handed back to TfL.
Mrs Lopez said the length of the delays and the lack of firm answers had eroded public confidence in TfL’s management of the scheme.
Her letter asks the Mayor and TfL to disclose the original and projected costs of replacing the water main beneath Gallows Corner, the timetable agreed with Essex & Suffolk Water and the reasons TfL decided that the main needed to be replaced.
Mrs Lopez has requested that the questions relating to TfL’s decision making, project management and use of public money be treated as a Freedom of Information request.
She is also seeking clarity on whether TfL has requested additional funding from the Department for Transport, what impact the Government’s previous pause on capital funding had on the timetable and when TfL now expects the flyover to reopen.
The letter follows confirmation that Essex & Suffolk Water had not originally intended to replace the water main but undertook the work at TfL’s request.
Mrs Lopez understands that TfL is fronting the majority of the cost of the replacement watermain, raising questions about whether the cost of the new pipe could now rival or exceed the cost of replacing the flyover itself, and if those funds could have been spent on other transport projects across Havering and London.
She has asked what support the Mayor has offered to Havering Council and affected businesses, including whether he has made representations to the Valuation Office Agency about business rates relief.
Julia said:
“Residents and businesses have now endured more than a year of severe disruption, wasted time and financial hardship. They deserve clear answers about how this project has been managed and how much public money has been spent.
“My recent meetings have raised serious questions about TfL’s planning, its decision to replace the water main and whether the original timetable and budget were ever realistic.
“The Mayor has sole political responsibility for TfL but has shown zero interest in Gallows Corner and the impact on residents.
It is time he gave local businesses and residents the attention this debacle deserves and looks at what he, uniquely, can do to support them.
“It is also essential that those lessons are applied to future schemes, particularly the planned replacement of the A13 Lodge Avenue flyover, so that another community is not subjected to the same delays and uncertainty.”
Mrs Lopez has asked the Mayor to confirm whether he has personally attended or chaired any meetings concerning Gallows Corner and what action his office has taken to support residents and businesses affected by the works.
