Caroline's news

Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Simon Hughes MP and Cllr David Noakes on a visit to Southwark Fire Station on Wednesday 12th June to meet fire-fighters and to discuss the Mayor’s proposals to close Southwark as one of 12 fire stations under threat of closure across London.

“It was very useful to meet the local fire-fighters and hear their strong case for keeping Southwark open”.

Caroline and the Lib Dems on the Fire Authority and on the London Assembly have consistently voted against these cuts and closures. Local Lib Dem Councillors and Simon Hughes MP have also campaigned strongly against the cuts.

Caroline’s submission to the consultation can be found here.

Caroline was delighted to be the guest speaker at a Greenwich Lib Dems fundraiser on Monday 3rd June.

Caroline joined lots of members to enjoy a curry and drink followed by a detailed discussion on lots of issues form transport to police and fire cuts.

“It was great to meet so many members both old and new to discuss local issues in Greenwich. The saga of the foot tunnels, plans for river crossings and the Mayor’s plans for an airport in the estuary were all issues of concern”, commented Caroline.

On Tuesday 4th June Caroline Pidgeon AM joined local campaigners and Councillors Jon Ball and Gary Malcolm on a visit to Ealing to look at a number of issues affecting the Borough and local residents.

Ealing Broadway
Caroline and the team had a look around Ealing Broadway and heard from campaigner Tony Miller about the poor interchange planned with the long awaited Crossrail.

“It seems a missed opportunity if the station is not reconfigured to make it a model interchange between Crossrail, national rail, and the tube as well as with cycling and buses” commented Caroline.

Caroline has written to Crossrail about these issues.

Caroline joined local Lib Dem Councillors and Tom Brake MP on Saturday 18th May to collect signatures from local people against the proposed closure of St Heliers A&E and maternity services, and to campaign on some key transport issues in the area.

Give us back our night bus
The loss of the N213 night bus has had a real impact on people in Carshalton and Wallington. Local Lib Dems are calling on TfL as part of their review of bus routes to look to reintroduce a night bus service in Carshalton and Wallington by converting the existing 154 route into a 24 hour service.

The gap between the last and first bus is only 4 hours, so a half hourly service during these hours would not require too many additional journeys. Timetabling an extended route to connect the N155 at Morden and N44 at Rosehill would also improve connections for those returning back from Central London.

Caroline visited Sudbury on Friday 26th April and joined Lib Dem Leader Cllr Paul Lorber and local campaigners including Bob Wharton looking at a range of issues in the area. These included the virtually non-existent train service from Sudbury Harrow Road Station; The state of litter around the station; the closure of Barham Library by the Labour Council and looking at alternative space for the library in the local Sudbury Town tube station.

“It was good to walk around Sudbury and to discuss the transport and library issues with Cllr Paul Lorber and the team, to see and hear first hand the real problems that local residents face” commented Caroline.