London-wide + Camden stories

Lib Dems take the lead in supporting car clubs

Liberal Democrat councils have the best record of any political party in supporting the growth in car clubs across London.

This week Transport for London granted £1 million of funding to support the growth of car clubs across London over the next years. Less than two thirds of London boroughs actually applied for funding (19 out of 33 boroughs), yet all seven Liberal Democrat councils in London rose to the challenge and successfully secured funding for their boroughs.

Caroline ventures where Boris feared to tread

While London Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) Chair, Boris Johnson, refused to travel on the overcrowded, TfL-run, London Overground Barking–Gospel Oak rail service when invited by London Assembly Chair Jennette Arnold, Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat Vice-Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, was made of sterner stuff. She travelled with members of the Barking – Gospel Oak Line User Group (BGOLUG) on a crowded morning peak train from Barking last Friday (27th February) in order to see the overcrowded conditions for herself.

Caroline Pidgeon and Norman Baker welcome King's Cross improvements

Lib Dems Caroline Pidgeon AM and Norman Baker MP visited King’s Cross station just before Christmas to hear about Network Rail’s plans for the redevelopment of the station. The Lib Dem team learnt about planned improvements to both the overground and underground stations for passengers. Caroline raised the issue of access via York Way, which has been an issue both Norman and Caroline have taken up for local residents.

Mayor hits Freedom Pass holders with double whammy

Pensioners and eligible disabled people in London were today hit by a double whammy as the Mayor of London Boris Johnson revealed that not only would their 24-hour Freedom Pass not be able to be used on Network Rail trains before 9.30am, despite this being a key election promise, but that the London Boroughs face paying out millions of pounds to fund Mayor Boris Johnson's 24-hour commitment.

London Liberal Youth mount campaign to save the Cross River Tram

Caroline was delighted to join members of the London Liberal Youth at LSE on Thursday 27th November to discuss the Cross River Tram and their campaign to try to persuade the Mayor of London to change his mind and keep the plans alive.

The team of students have produced leaflets and posters and are planning a number of events and different levels of lobbying to keep the pressure on the Mayor to save the tram.

“I was very impressed to meet such an enthusiastic and energetic student group, who strongly felt the tram would benefit the student community in London as well as the wider community, in many deprived areas.

Mayor must seek private funding

Caroline Pidgeon AM, London Assembly Liberal Democrat lead on transport, commenting on Transport for London's Ten Year Business Plan, published today, said:

“It is staggering that schemes such as the Cross River Tram, the Croydon Tramlink Extension, East London Transit, Greenwich Waterfront Transit and plans for an Oxford street tram appear to have been scrapped with nothing in their place apart from, perhaps, a few more polluting diesel buses.

Boris: “amazing ignorance on transport” – Caroline Pidgeon AM

Caroline Pidgeon AM, the Liberal Democrats’ transport spokesperson at the London Assembly, says the Mayor, also the chair of Transport for London, is clearly not fully clued up on the capital’s transport issues.

Caroline says: “Mayor Johnson floundered when asked key questions of fact on whether London transport will be ready for the 2012 Olympics.

“He was clueless about TfL’s £40 million cutback on the North London Line at Camden Road station which will mean only six trains an hour to Stratford instead of eight.

How committed is Boris to the Cross River Tram? That's a good question...

Commenting on the Cross River Tram plans at the Liberal Democrats' autumn conference in Bournemouth, Caroline Pidgeon AM, the Liberal Democrat's transport spokesperson at the London Assembly, says:
"As to what Boris is going to do, that is a very good question. Boris has said he is interested in the Cross River Tram and we have that on record.

"Messages coming out of his office have been very mixed but we need to keep it in his transport strategy and we're lobbying very, very hard on that."

Cross River Tram campaigners petition at City Hall

On Tuesday morning a busload of supporters of the Cross River Tram plans arrived en masse at City Hall for the Cross River Tram seminar.

The campaigners, who brought with them a petition of support for the proposed north-south tram link, were met at their journey's end by Caroline Pidgeon AM, the Liberal Democrats' transport spokesperson.

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