In a Guardian article by Rowan Moore, Caroline Pidgeon discusses some concerns about the project to build a Garden Bridge from Temple to the South Bank:
These rapid changes of position caused Caroline Pidgeon, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly, to spot a pattern. The mayor’s statements on the bridge had been “totally false, just as with his past claims about the funding of the cycle hire scheme and the Thames cable car”. ...
Caroline Pidgeon AM joined thousands of other Londoners in a mass cycle ride on Saturday 17th May in support of the Space for Cycling Campaign organised by the London Cycling Campaign in the run up to the London borough elections.
Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on today’s announcement that Transport for London, will permanently permit bicycles on off-peak Docklands Light Railway trains said:
“This is an incredibly welcome decision. I am not surprised at all that the recent trial allowing non-folding bicycles on the DLR has been a success as there was no real argument to support the total prohibition of bikes being allowed on the DLR.
After years of rejecting the idea, bicycles may finally be allowed on the DLR in a trial scheme.
The off-peak trial was mentioned in papers outlining the Mayor’s vision for cycling. Such a trial is a significant development as for a number of years Boris Johnson has rejected the idea put forward by Caroline Pidgeon and other London Assembly Members.
The London Assembly today urged Mayor Boris Johnson to halt his plans to dilute police Safer Neighbourhood Teams and recklessly close police front counters across London.
The Assembly's motion calls on the Mayor to retain the existing neighbourhood policing model of a dedicated sergeant, supported by two Constables and three Police Community Support Officers, allocated to each ward in London.
Caroline Pidgeon AM, who seconded the motion, said:
“Londoners value their local police stations and the local, recognisable police teams dedicated to serving their ward. Shutting up cop shops to public access and destroying the local policing model risks setting policing back more than a decade and separating the police from their communities.”
Caroline recently attended a RoadPeace vigil dedicated to all cyclists and pedestrians who have been killed by lorries on our streets. The event was held near to Moorgate, at the London Wall junction with Copthall Avenue. It is the location where RoadPace Chair Cynthia Barlow's daughter Alex was killed by a lorry in 2000.
It is now a year since RoadPeace launched their new campaign: See Me Save Me. The See Me Save Me campaign is dedicated to reducing lorry danger and saving lives, and calls for the elimination of the blind spot through the use of HGB safety technologies such as sensors and cameras.
Caroline Pidgeon AM, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, commenting on the Mayor’s response today to her questions about the future of Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) across London, where he failed to recognise that there would be a reduction in dedicated police officers for each safer neighbourhood team, said:
“The Mayor should come clean with Londoners and admit that he is decimating the current and successful model for safer neighbourhood teams.
Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, is urging First Capital Connect and Network Rail to stop charging passengers for just walking over the bridge.
At present if anyone using Oyster Pay As You Go enters the station south of the river and passes through the First Capital Connect barriers to get to the tube platforms they are not charged, however people who simply want to walk through the station without catching a train or Tube are being charged.
Caroline Pidgeon commented:
The River Thames is a forgotten highway, a tube line effectively, across the centre of London and yet under-resourced in terms of transport.
In January, the London Assembly Transport Committee is looking into river transport services - so Caroline and other Committee members spent a chilly morning in early December out and about on the river with Thames Clippers from Putney to Erith, looking at the challenges and opportunities to really expand river transport services for Londoners.
Caroline Pidgeon AM was joined by Brian Paddick and Cllr Stephen Knight, a Lib Dem London Assembly candidate to visit Blackfriars station and to see the progress that has been made on this upgrade project, which will see the first station cross the Thames, with a new entrance on the South of the River.