Plans for the extension to the Lea Valley Walk have suddenly been put on hold.

This summer it was expected that a long-planned riverside path from Three Mills to the Thames would be in place along the River Lea’s final tidal stretch known as Bow Creek.

The London Thames Gateway Corporation has achieved the required planning permissions and compulsory purchase but work did not begin last autumn.

At present the climax to the fifty mile route is along the Limehouse Cut used by the navigation despite much promotion of the scheme for the alternative path linking two parts of the valley’s regional park.

Now, following transfer of £34 million of assets from the London Thames Gateway Corporation to the Greater London Authority, London Assembly member John Biggs has called on Mayor Boris Johnson to continue the regeneration project in East London and not sell the assets to raise funds.

“The responsibility for Lea River Park is being transferred and I am concerned that the lack of regeneration funding from central Government may mean that schemes like this are not delivered with assets being sold and not reinvested for the benefit of East London’s regeneration,” says John Biggs.

“By extending a strand of the park down to the Thames, together with other steps I believe we can help to spread the benefits of the Olympic Park regeneration down towards the River Thames. This would have enormous potential benefit for East London and for my constituents.”