Caroline's news

As the Congestion Charge approaches its thirteenth anniversary, Caroline Pidgeon has published a report setting out a number of proposals to improve its effectiveness in both tackling congestion and also the serious problem of air pollution affecting the capital.

Due partly to London’s growing population, congestion on London’s roads has crept up in recent years, following a significant fall in the early years after the introduction of the Congestion Charge.

Commenting on the details emerging about the irregular process that approved the Garden Bridge contract - including secret meetings by the Mayor in San Francisco to raise funds for the project before it had been put out for tender - Caroline Pidgeon told the Architects' Journal:

Dave Hill writes in the Guardian on present and past proposals to pedestrianise Oxford Street - pointing out Caroline Pidgeon's advocacy of it, and the support from Lib Dem mayoral candidates back to Simon Hughes in 2004.

Read the full article here.

Building more affordable homes must be the top priority of the Mayor’s budget is the central message of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group amendment to the Mayor’s draft budget for the next year.

Their amendment to the Mayor’s budget set out ambitious plans to dramatically increase housing investment in London by converting the current Olympic precept, which is typically £20 a year for most householders, into a new ‘housing precept’.

Writing for the Left Foot Forward website, Caroline Pidgeon sets out her policy on London transport fares:

It is for this reason that I think some honesty is needed about fares, especially as within a few years TfL will be facing the permanent loss of £700m per year in state subsidy.

Freezing all fares over many years might sound incredibly attractive, but it is ultimately an uncosted policy. No one knows what it will really cost, as no one knows what inflation will be in three or four years time.