The fight against the Silvertown Tunnel is set to rumble on this week as climate change activists prepare to block more roads in south east London.

Extinction Rebellion participants are planning to block the A102 in Woolwich in protest against the Mayor’s plans for a major new tunnel linking the two sides of the Thames.

The planned Silvertown Tunnel, set to open in six years time, has had firece opposition locally.

Campaigners say the new tunnel will worsen pollution at one of London’s hotspots, whilst the Mayor maintains that a new road will help alleviate congestion at Blackwall – which is constantly closed.

In the latest of a renewed campaign to put the Mayor off putting pen to paper on Silvertown contracts, Extinction Rebellion are preparing to protest at the Woolwich Road Roundabout on Friday.

The group said: “We are demanding the cancellation of the Silvertown Tunnel. It is retrogressive, irresponsible and unaffordable in a climate emergency.”

Greenwich Council is one of few councils to continuously back the new road, with Lewisham, as well as Hackney over the river, opposing it.

“We urge you to rethink these plans and use the £1billion saved to invest in more sustainable forms of transport”, Mayor of Hackney Phillip Glanvillew wrote earlier this year.

Extinction Rebellion, who protested outside City Hall on July 17,  have also spearheaded a campaign dubbed “TaxRebellion” and asking for Silvertown and Bow Concrete Works to be scrapped and diesel buses to be replaced.

It comes just days after the leadership of Greenwich Council were grilled about the new tunnel at a Question Time event last week.

Deputy leader Cllr David Gardner said: “The Greenwich case on Silvertown was that there is an issue around businesses being able to get their deliveries and supplies to and from their markets, and the resilience of the Blackwall Tunnel. That is a very real issue that has to be addressed.

“At the same time, we were very clear at the inquiry that led to the final decision that we wanted very clear constraints that there will be no more traffic, that the Rotherhithe Tunnel would be tolled, and that there would be legislation for the Woolwich Ferry to be tolled. We also wanted air quality to be monitored with significant mitigation.

“Our policy has always been that we want more crossings in the east. We want the DLR to Thamesmead and to Eltham and we want the Gospel Oak to Barking line to Abbey Wood and Thamesmead too.

“We want to be better connected, we don’t want more roads but there is the issue of businesses’ connectivity.

“We are listening to what people have said. Not all the issues we raised at the inquiry have been met and we are in dialogue with the Mayor about how we take this forward now.”

The Silvertown Tunnel has a lane for buses and Heavy Goods Vehicles, which opponents say is counter-productive to bringing dangerous emissions down.

The tunnel will be paid for by a toll on the Blackwall Tunnel, which is closed 700 times a year on average.

Sadiq Khan said last month: “The problem we have is how we deal with the fact that the Blackwall Tunnel is closed 700 times a year on average, leading to the catastrophe of tailbacks, there’s poor air quality, congestion and people don’t cross the river using the bus because it is unreliable.

“By having a tunnel with a lane reserved for buses, you’ll have public transport going from one side to the other. Also we are organising for pedestrians and cycles as well. Doing nothing is not an option.”