Caroline Pidgeon joined a cross party group to speak out against planned cuts to Lewisham's local rail services, and to take their campaign to Government ministers.
The South London Press reported on the campaign here.
The group have also written a letter to the South London Press, setting out their stance:
Dear Sir,
We are deeply concerned by the proposed deep cuts to already overcrowded train services run by Southern Railways via Sydenham, Forest Hill, Honor Oak Park, Brockley and New Cross Gate. Passengers are rightly outraged by these cuts and concerned that an already overcrowded and unpleasant commute will turn into a daily nightmare.
We welcome the introduction of the East London Line extension which is due to start in May 2010, but local residents were promised by Transport for London that existing services would not be cut once the East London Line became operational. These promises have been broken. From this December all direct evening services to and from Charing Cross will be stopped. From May 2010 Southern intend to cut 1/3 of all main line services during the day and most importantly during the evening rush hours.
Over 11 million people used this train service in the years 2007/8 and Department for Transport figures and Transport for London figures all show that this line has suppressed capacity of up to 40%. In other words, were train services to improve, the numbers of people using this line would increase significantly. The argument put forward by rail bosses that passengers will immediately transfer to the East London Line do not stack up. Improved services will create extra demand for all services, not less.
As representatives of Local Residents Groups, local Councillors, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Lewisham, the Member of Parliament for Lewisham West, London Assembly Members and as Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee we have written to the Minister at the Department of Transport requesting an urgent meeting on these issues. The Department of Transport sets the requirements of the Train contracts that train operators have to run. It is the Department of Transport who can resolve this problem. Both TFL and Southern have made it clear that solutions must come from the Government Department. We have asked the Minster to travel on an evening peak time train service with us to see for himself how overcrowded it is. The Department must take responsibility for this issue, engage with local residents, and provide solutions to their concerns.
Kind Regards
John Russell, Philip Peake & Alex Feakes
Forest Hill ward councillors (Lib Dem)Dean Walton and Romayne Phoenix
Brockley ward councillors (Green)Chris Best, Marion Nisbet and Seamus McDermot
Sydenham ward councillors (Labour)Susan Wise, John Paschoud and Alan Till
Perry Vale ward councillors (Labour)Sir Steve Bullock, Heidi Alexander and Jim Dowd MP
Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Lewisham (Labour) and MP for Lewisham West (Labour)Chris Maines
Leader of the largest party in Opposition on Lewisham Council (Lib Dem)Richard Hibbert (Chair), Michael Abrahams and Tony Petim
Forest Hill SocietyTim Lund (Chair)
Sydenham SocietyMalcolm Bacchus
Telegraph Hill SocietyCaroline Pidgeon AM
Chair, Transport Committee of the London AssemblyDarren Johnson AM
Chair, London Assembly, and Brockley ward councillorLen Duvall AM
London Assembly