please empty your brain below
https://twitter.com/AdamBienkov/status/485738003869229056
Much more likely to be Stafford Bull Terriers. Normally a very laid-back social dog unless brought up very badly. The have the general broad shape of a pit bull but get up close (unlikely in DG's case) and they are clearly different if you know what you are looking at.
"Staffies" are beloved by "yoof" because many people think they are pit bull so gives them "respect". The more disreputable sell-them-in-the-pub type breeder deliberately breed them to look similar to a pit bull to enhance their sale value.
dg writes: Er yes, probably. Updated, thanks.
There are plenty of other places fifteen miles apart - the effective distance between Barking and Thamesmead throughout history - which could benefit from having faster connections, and could be done for a lot less than £500 million.
The longer journeys represent smaller savings through - and why should Ilfordians expect to be only twenty minutes from Elthamites when they never have in the past? Do people complain about living next to the London to Birmingham railway, which has been there for 175 years? The river has been there a lot longer.
Yes, a bridge might be useful, but until a way can be found to avoid the entire throughput of the North Circular Road cascading across the grain of the road network in Plumstead and Welling (which for obvious historical reasons runs east-west) this idea is only half-baked.
Ham and Teddington are about 100 yards apart as the crow flies - yet by road it is over 70 times further. Likewise Hampton and West Molesey.
However, with another bridge from Erith to Rainham, another tunnel at Blackwall and the barriers removed at Dartford (which is happening) then far less cars would use it as a major route and it could be mainly for local traffic, which the area sorely needs.
Make sure it has a DLR extension from Beckton and/or the London Overground extended from Barking to Thamesmead and that would provide such a massive boost to the most forgotton part of London without many of the downsides the other plans had.
You have failed to mention the conclusions of the previous inspector, who threw out as, at best unproven and at worst nonsense, the very aguments being espoused by current supporters of the bridge.
You have also failed to take into account the numerous river crossings in SE and E London that did not exist at the time of previous incarnations of the bridge (and you may as well ignore Abercrombie's plans which would have demolished most of London): the Jubilee Line Extension, DLR and Crossrail. What Thamesmead has been crying out for since its inception, was a link to employment, shops and entertainment via public transport. An extension to the DLR would be the easiest, cheapest and most welcome option.
The others crossings are better than what the area suffered with for decades but nowhere near enough. North Greenwich is miles away from the Thamesmead area and the large population around there, which is also to grow (both in Thamesmead and Erith, Belvedere, Slade Green etc), and Woolwich goes directly east along a thin strip of land that isn't good for heading north to the major interchanges like Barking or east into Essex.
A DLR is not sufficient on its own. My disabled friend is reliant on crossing the river and it is a nightmare right now and a public transport only option is not an improvement for them. Add to that shift workers, people working across various locations, local business and the industrial estates suffering from poor crossings and others. With modern technology cars can be priced off with tolls at certain times while people who need road crossings can get the option they need.
"However, with another bridge from Erith to Rainham, another tunnel at Blackwall and the barriers removed at Dartford (which is happening) then far less cars would use it as a major route and it could be mainly for local traffic, which the area sorely needs."
In which utopian future would such a cornucopia of projects find funding. Just as with Crossrail 2, any project in the area is likely to be the only show in town, and will therefore be expected to meet the aspirations of all the pressure groups wnating improvements within ten miles of the area: look at Barking Riverside - a fast link to Barking and a DLR extension for more local tramlike traffic (for in speed and statoin spacing, that is what the DLR is) are both desirable: but they are forced to choose.
And don't get too excited about the barriers going at Dartford - the tolls will remain, just collected in a less obtrusive way.
The idea seems unbelievable right now of more than one crossing for millions of people, given recent history, but a tipping point will arrive. Building tens of thousands of new houses in that area is not going to stop and congestion is not going to reduce and things will have to happen eventually.
I know tolls are remaining but the barriers removal will help the flow.
b) there was a questionnaire to local people a while back asking their preferences as regards a bridge or an additional ferry. Out of those options a bridge would be the only logical proposition. Look at the existing ferry at Woolwich. It has a huge marshalling yard on the south side which can sometimes be full to overflowing (far from ideal) or totally empty (which is equally far from ideal for opposite reasons)
c) I'm afraid I think you're right, DG, about the, er, locality where you walked. I used to like walking that stretch of the river, too. Apart from seeing the tattered remains of wrecked saplings that had only been planted a little while beforehand, to brighten the area up a little :( And the remnants of the nicked shopping trolleys, mopeds and bicycles sticking out from the mud of the shoreline at low tide :(
(And as for Pitbull of Staffie, is it really worth splitting hairs over? :( )
There is space allocated for a DLR station to the east of Gallions Hill and directly to the left of the southern approach to the bridge. Depsite misconceptions, there is a junction at woolwich that allows extension of the DLR tracks to Thamesmead without reversing at woolwich station. This would enable more stations into central thamesmead which is much needed.
Local residents should be campaigning for better public transportation with the bridge instead of directly opposing something that's going to be built anyway. As compensation for the induced traffic, the DLR should be extended to serve the local residents that will be most affected.
No DLR?... No Bridge!
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