London-wide + Southwark stories

Mayor must do more to tackle Air Pollution

Earlier this week Caroline met with Cllr Graham Neale and local residents off Old Kent Road to discuss the impact which motor traffic is having on local air quality.

Despite a growing body of evidence suggesting that spending long periods of time in close proximity to busy roads can cause or exacerbate childhood asthma and lead to permanently reduced lung function, the Mayor has been reluctant to publish smog alerts during recent air pollution episodes.

31 March 2013 - 1:04pm

Rotherhithe Tunnel restrictions risk gridlock

Commenting on the traffic problems building up around Rotherhithe Tunnel since the introduction of a poorly announced restriction on wide vehicles, Caroline Pidgeon said:

“Despite Transport for London having a year to prepare for the start of this policy it seems very few people are aware of this new ban on wide vehicles being allowed through the Rotherhithe Tunnel.

23 March 2013 - 9:38pm

Celebrating 30 years of Simon Hughes in Parliament

Caroline Pidgeon AM was delighted to join hundreds of local Lib Dem members in Bermondsey to celebrate 30 years since Simon Hughes was elected MP for Bermondsey.

A wonderful cake was made by a member which entertainingly showed Simon's infamous yellow taxi being towed!

Caroline joined Vince Cable MP, Sarah Ludford MEP and Cllr Anood Al-Samerai to celebrate the cake cutting with Simon Hughes.

11 March 2013 - 12:04am

Save our London neighbourhood policing

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.”

3 March 2013 - 8:46pm

Turn Bricklayers' Arms flyover into a park

The London SE1 website reports on Caroline Pidgeon's suggestion to the mayor to turn the Bricklayers' Arms flyover in Southwark into an elevated park like New York's High Line.

Boris Johnson has said that Transport for London have no plans to close the flyover to traffic, but has asked TfL to review ways of reducing the environmental impact of the flyover.

24 January 2013 - 5:01am

Mayor must review 20mph limit on London roads

The London Assembly has called on Mayor Boris Johnson to take action on road safety by introducing more 20mph limits on the capital’s roads. The Assembly asked him to set stricter limits – where appropriate – on the London Road Network (TLRN), following calls from councils, schools, pedestrian groups and cycling organisations, and to require TfL to provide evidence to justify its position when it rejects a Borough’s application to reduce a road’s speed limit.

16 January 2013 - 11:54pm

Assembly calls on Mayor to improve consultation on police plan

The London Assembly has called on the Mayor to take steps to improve the consultation process for the Police and Crime Plan, after residents in Lambeth and Southwark did not receive relevant documents until the day of the consultation meeting.

A motion agreed by the Assembly meeting said that while it may now be too late to rectify the problem in those two boroughs, the quality of the consultation for other groups across London could still be improved.

16 January 2013 - 11:52pm

Mayor should admit he is decimating Safer Neigbourhood Teams

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.

16 January 2013 - 11:49pm

Archway Studios - a great brownfield development

Caroline Pidgeon AM and Simon Hughes MP were delighted to officially open the Archway Studios in Walworth in early December.

Archway Studios is a unique Live-Work building, built on brown field site in Newington Ward, Southwark and home to Undercurrent Architects.

As a local Councillor Caroline supported Didier and Dominic Ryan with their unique application to build their studios.

"It was amazing to see such an amazing building created in such a small space" commented Caroline.

You can read more on Undercurrent Architects' website here and here.

15 December 2012 - 11:59pm

Overground link is welcome - but we need the South London Line back

Caroline was joined by Simon Hughes MP trying out the new London Overground Service from Surrey Quays in Rotherhithe to Clapham Junction. The team went out on the new route on its first day of operation on Sunday 9th December. Simon and Caroline had also been out the day before supporting local campaigners against the final day of the South London Line from Victoria to London Bridge. The new line does allow many more journeys to be made in Zone 2 avoiding busy Zone 1.

15 December 2012 - 11:44pm

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