Caroline's news

Caroline's questions for Boris Johnson in September's Mayor's Question Time session have now been published on the web.

Caroline raised a range of issues, including:

• Prospects of building a ferry pier near Vauxhall station
• The need for a website for transport users to report problems with graffiti, litter and vandalism
• Press reports that TfL is no longer pursuing foreign embassies which fail to pay the Congestion Charge
• The lack of proper provision for cyclists while the Greenwich Foot Tunnel is closed

Local residents and Streatham Liberal Democrats are celebrating the news that the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) is planning to drop its plans to close Streatham Police station.

A panel of the MPA was set up last year to reconsider the controversial plans to close police stations across London following vocal protests from residents and Liberal Democrats across the capital. In Streatham local Liberal Democrats led by Parliamentary Spokesman Chris Nicholson collected a petition of more than 2000 signatures opposing the closure. The petition was presented to a meeting of the MPA last year which as a result decided to set up the panel to reconsider the plans. It is understood that the panel is now recommending that the MPA proceeds with the proposals in a few Boroughs where there was support for the plans but will drop the plans for Lambeth.

In an article for Lib Dem News, Caroline discusses future directions for congestion charging in London - and road pricing in general.

She says:

...what we chiefly need now are technologies that give us many more options.

In London, we feel that better technology, and a charging system that is graded so that the worst polluters pay most, is the way forward. Revenue from congestion charging has by law to be spent on transport improvements for London - an essential element of fiscal transparency sorely needed for national politics.

Read the full article here.

Caroline Pidgeon joined Camden Lib Dems at the Marchmont Street Festival in the King's Cross area. She appears in the Lib Dems' video of the event, talking about the "Twenty Is Plenty" campaign for 20mph speed limits to make the area's roads safe for pedestrians and cyclists.

An independent and wide ranging review of the licensing of cab drivers is now necessary following the recent reports of an individual convicted of manslaughter applying to become a taxi driver and having already received a private hire driver’s licence, says Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Transport Spokesperson.

The London Assembly Member, who chairs the London Assembly Transport Committee, has now written to Boris Johnson urging him to ensure that changes are made to the proposed review being undertaken by the Public Carriage Office (PCO).