John Biggs - on Boris' transport folly
John Biggs is the Labour London Assembly member for City and East
On the day that Barack Obama was raising the world’s aspirations, Boris Johnson was damping London’s down.
East London’s travelling public will look back on the publication of the Mayor’s 10-year transport plan two weeks ago as a bleak day.
Major schemes axed by the Mayor should have been key to the future development of London and had been in the pipeline long before Ken Livingstone’s tenure.
The Thames Gateway Bridge, for example, was proposed more than 20 years ago, and is essential for residents to take traffic pressure and pollution away from the approaches to the Blackwall Tunnel. We are now promised an investigation into plans for a crossing at Silvertown, but it’s not the answer and even if it is approved will not be built before 2020.
And the same day he also cancelled a proposed DLR extension to Dagenham which is essential if the regeneration of the East End is to continue. While some of the schemes were not fully funded others, like the bridge, had cash behind them. And for those schemes without funding it is the job of the Mayor to push for extra resources, not to retreat.
We need to be investing to stimulate the economy and to meet the demands of our growing city. But the Mayor’s transport cuts in East London show he lacks the vision and drive we need to see these projects through.
At a time when he should be making plans for the capital’s future, he’s tearing them up.
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