Greenwich Tories are set to take aim at the London Mayor’s handling of Crossrail as they push the council to demand a new opening date.

Crossrail was scheduled to open last year before delays due to extra testing on the tracks.

It had been due to be opened on December 9 last year. A subsequent date of autumn 2019 has also been scrapped, with bosses now looking at 2020.

No official reopening date has been given and there are estimates that each day of delay is costing taxpayers millions of pounds.

Conservatives in Greenwich are now preparing to call on the Labour council to press for a new opening date.

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In a new motion, opposition councillors will also ask the chamber to note the “negative impact” caused by the Mayor’s “failure to deliver Crossrail on time”.

Cllr Charlie Davis, who is leading on the motion, said: “Commuters in Abbey Wood and Woolwich expected their average journey times into London to have been halved by now when Crossrail was scheduled to open in December 2018. Instead they’re unsure whether the service will even be ready for them to use next year.

“The delay has meant residents and businesses are yet to experience any of the positive economic benefits Crossrail will deliver.

“Our motion asks the leader to request the Mayor announces a new opening date as soon as possible to address this uncertainty, as well as working with local communities once the project is delivered to ensure the Community Infrastructure Levy generated provides much needed public realm improvement.”

The motion will be debated at a meeting next week, when Labour councillors are poised to lobby the government over school funding.

Sadiq Khan was in Greenwich earlier this week launching a new air monitoring initiative at an Eltham primary school.

Shaun Bailey, the Conservative candidate trying to oust Mr Khan at the next mayoral election recently threw his weight behind an extension of Crossrail out to Ebbsfleet.

He told this publication: “I think it is necessary to bring it to Ebbsfleet and should I be mayor I would be pushing for that.

“It opens up housing in a way that we want so we are not building skyscrapers, it gives you a long enough transport link that you can build little towns and villages people aspire to live in. You can lower the cost because you can open up so much land.”