Boris Johnson has appeared to have rejected a petition to rezone Woolwich Arsenal station.

The popular campaign would have reduced weekly travelcard fares by £4, £31.40 on a monthly travelcard and £328 on an annual travelcard.

But in a letter to London Assembly Member Len Duvall the Mayor of London, who said nothing positive of the campaign, yesterday seemed to have ruled out the proposal on the grounds of “loss of revenue.”

He said: “Each time a station is rezoned it results in a loss of revenue. In the case of Woolwich alone it would cost more than £1 million per year, a figure that would only increase with the introduction of Crossrail.

“In the case of Stratford, I took a decision to absorb this revenue loss as another one of my agencies, the LLDC, is one of the principal beneficiaries of the change in policy and is likely to see an uplift to its land values.”

The petition was launched with the increase of the number of Woolwich commuters in mind and gained more than 1,000 signatures.

In response to his letter, Mr Duvall said the Mayor of London has ignored a genuine and impressive degree of public support. 

He added: "I am immensely disappointed the Mayor will not support the economic growth and regeneration of Woolwich in the same way he plans for Stratford."

Woolwich Riverside Councillor John Fahy said: “Rezoning Woolwich Arsenal is a no brainer. Riverside Ward Councillors will continue to press for this small measure which would bring greater number of passengers to using public transport. I would suggest that there would be no loss of revenue in the longer term.”

But a spokeswoman for Greenwich Council said they will continue to fight to secure cheaper fares between Woolwich and central London.

In a statement she said: “It is very disappointing to learn of the Mayor of London’s current stance on our request to have Woolwich Arsenal Station rezoned to zone 3/4.

This issue has a lot of support amongst local residents. We believe the case for rezoning is clear and will raise this with the Mayor of London in a scheduled meeting next week.