Caroline's news

Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Lib Dem Cllr Tricia Bamford and officers from Transport for London and Kingston Council on Tuesday 14th December to have a look at a number of issues on the A243 and the impact they are having on local residents.

Caroline, Tricia and the officers walked along the A243 looking at a number of serious problems, including:

• The need for pedestrian phases on the A243 by Merritt Gardens to help the local schools and health centre, as well as by the Hook Centre further down.
• The need for more signage and road markings at the Bridge Road roundabout (pictured) where traffic congestion is increasing and there are problems with vehicles not getting into the correct lane.
• The future plans for the Malden Rushett junction which have been drawn up and consulted on, but will need to be phased in over a number of years due to funding issues.

The BBC reports that a planned cable car across the Thames from Docklands to North Greenwich may not be ready in time for the Olympics - and that the Mayor is now requesting public funding for it.

Caroline Pidgeon commented:

A cable car crossing the Thames might well be a great idea, but the bottom line is that the mayor promised Londoners that it would be funded entirely from private finance and that has already turned out to not be the case.

The mayor now needs to give a clear account of why he rejected the views of the board of the London Development Agency and forced them to divert public funding into his pet project.

You can read the BBC's full story here.

The story has also been covered by the Evening Standard and the Docklands24 website.

Writing to the Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle, Caroline Pidgeon argues that the Mayor should abandon proposals to force drivers to pay for short-term parking on Red Routes:

The parking charges will raise little revenue for the mayor, but they will hit for six many small traders who are already facing hard times.

The last thing London needs is more empty shops along so many of its roads. Instead of killing off more small shops, we need to kill off this daft proposal from the mayor.

Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on today’s announcement that London Underground will now use temporary block closures where appropriate as opposed to evening and weekend closures over many months, if not years, to upgrade and improve the tube, said:

“This change of direction, starting with parts of the Circle and District Line next summer is very welcome indeed. This is a policy I have been advocating for the last two years so I am delighted that commonsense has at long last prevailed.

An article in the Guardian discusses the "VIP" transport lanes which will be set up during the Olympics for use only by Olympic Committee members and sponsors - which the Olympic organisers have refused to open up to disabled Blue Badge holders.

Quoted in the article, Caroline comments: "It is appalling that the ODA have ruled out such a modest proposal.