London Congestion Charge Extension to be scrapped

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jeremytaylor

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In a rare example of politicans doing what they said they would do :rolleyes: , Boris Johnson, Mayor of London is to scrap the Congestion Charge Western Extension, as promissed when he was running for election earlier this year.

Consultation produced 28,000 repsonses. 67% of residents and 86% of businesses were in favour of scrapping the extension. The earliest this can be done is, apparently by Spring 2010.
 
In a rare example of politicans doing what they said they would do :rolleyes: , Boris Johnson, Mayor of London is to scrap the Congestion Charge Western Extension, as promissed when he was running for election earlier this year.

Consultation produced 28,000 repsonses. 67% of residents and 86% of businesses were in favour of scrapping the extension. The earliest this can be done is, apparently by Spring 2010.

Excellent news. At last someone listening to what the public want.
 
lets hope politicians never listen to me...public hangings would be a regular treat round my way:D .

On a serious note I could not agree more with the OP - well done Boris. I assume the delay is because some company has a contract which runs until then.?
 
Hmmm what about losing £70m pa worth of revenue to be invested in public transport, and the £100m that was spent on systems and street furniture?
Originally, Boris wanted to keep it, in a modified form. The consultation was 'informal', not official. Only 28,000 responses. Sounds like pop politics to me, rather than joined-up thinking.
 
Quote from Boris' press release:
"The five-week informal public consultation attracted nearly 28,000 responses and overall 67 per cent of individual respondents and 86 per cent of businesses responding to the public consultation supported the removal of the zone. Nineteen per cent stated that they wanted the extension kept as it is, and 12 per cent supported changing the scheme to improve the way that it operates.

Alongside the consultation, Transport for London (TfL) conducted a survey of the attitudes of 2,000 Londoners and 1,000 London-based businesses to gauge how representative the consultation responses were. Removing the Western Extension was the preferred option of 41 per cent of members of the public against 30 per cent in favour of keeping it. Half of businesses surveyed wanted the extension scrapped and 23 per cent supported keeping it. Fifteen per cent of members of the public and 14 per cent of businesses said they would change the way the scheme operates.

A quarter of stakeholders supported the removal of the Western Extension. Around half were in favour of keeping the scheme although some made their support conditional on other changes. A third supported changing the way that the scheme operates.
"

Hardly a mandate I feel. It's not a done-deal though - the mayor's decision will be subject to a statutory 12-week public and stakeholder consultation starting next summer and TfL has to carry out one too.

And in the small print: Residents within the western zone will also lose their 90% congestion charge discount, which allows them to drive across both the western and original congestion charge zone for a fraction of the £8 daily charge paid by drivers living outside the zone.
 
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Only 28,000 responses. Sounds like pop politics to me, rather than joined-up thinking.

The consultation was widely published in the area. If people chose to ignore it, they have no mandate to moan about the result!

At least Boris is adhering to the results of the consultation. When Ken Livingstone brought in the Extension he too had a consultation which, if memory serves me right, showed a similar majority against the proposals. But he chose to ignore the consultation and brought it in anyway. Now that's really democratic, isn't it? :confused:
 
The consultation was widely published in the area. If people chose to ignore it, they have no mandate to moan about the result!
From the Mayor's press release: "A quarter of stakeholders supported the removal of the Western Extension. Around half were in favour of keeping the scheme although some made their support conditional on other changes. A third supported changing the way that the scheme operates."
I think this is reason to disagree with the interpretation of the result.



At least Boris is adhering to the results of the consultation. When Ken Livingstone brought in the Extension he too had a consultation which, if memory serves me right, showed a similar majority against the proposals. But he chose to ignore the consultation and brought it in anyway. Now that's really democratic, isn't it? :confused:

Why bring Livingstone in to it? He's gone. History. Boris is the Mayor. I have no political axe to grind here. The proper consultation happens in the summer, and may not produce the same results as the informal one. I'm just trying to read behind the headlines. It doesn't seem like it's been very well thought out. There will be a big loss of revenue and a cost to London, residents of these areas will now pay a whopping percentage more to drive east, there will be more cars on the road. So it's not all good.
 
My comment would be that by the time it's actually scrapped (if indeed it is) it will have taken Boris 2 years to deliver one of his major promises when he was elected.

Didn't he also say that bendy buses would be "scrapped overnight"? Apparently the first of those are going to be taken off next year as well.
 
There will be a big loss of revenue ........................residents of these areas will now pay a whopping percentage more to drive east, there will be more cars on the road. So it's not all good.
Lots of people paying lots is bad, but loss of revenue is also bad? I fail to see how you can have revenue without people paying it.

They'll have to pay a fortune to go there but congestion will increase? I still fail to see the link.

You might wish to clarify your postion, perhaps?

RH
 
My comment would be that ...................it will have taken Boris 2 years to deliver one of his major promises when he was elected.
It's happening slowly, but at least it's happening.

RH
 
Why bring Livingstone in to it?

The only reason I bring Livingstone into it is because he had an expensive consultation which didn't give hime the result he wanted. So he ignored it and went ahead.

I hate dictators, whatever colour their politics.
 
Lots of people paying lots is bad, but loss of revenue is also bad? I fail to see how you can have revenue without people paying it.

They'll have to pay a fortune to go there but congestion will increase? I still fail to see the link.

You might wish to clarify your postion, perhaps?

RH

Of course loss of revenue is bad, especially as it is supposed to be invested in public transport, and the set-up costs (£100m) need to be recovered.
Traffic will increase in the Western Extension Zone, just as it decreased when charging was introduced.
People who live in the Western Extension Zone will pay a lot more to drive into the remaining zone.
What needs clarifying? :confused:
 
The only reason I bring Livingstone into it is because he had an expensive consultation which didn't give hime the result he wanted. So he ignored it and went ahead.

I hate dictators, whatever colour their politics.

Fair enough, but I thought this discussion was about whether it's a good idea to scrap the western extension zone at this time :)
 
As one who has suffered (from a business point of view) since the Western Extension was brought in, and from my general observations, and because much of the extended area is residential, I think the Western Extension was a bad idea.

I do think the Central zone is a good idea - a mostly business area with much better public transport. But I do feel for those residents of the Extended zone who will no longer be able to drive in to the Central zone for free :rolleyes:
 
It's a good move, thanks Boris.

I voted for your ass, you're doing ok so far.

Working on projects for mid sized companies and knowing how long it takes to get anything done in that environment, I'm amazed anything happens at all on whole city sized projects. Nothing will happen quickly on this scale.

Except tax rises of course.
 
The consultation was widely published in the area. If people chose to ignore it, they have no mandate to moan about the result!

At least Boris is adhering to the results of the consultation. When Ken Livingstone brought in the Extension he too had a consultation which, if memory serves me right, showed a similar majority against the proposals. But he chose to ignore the consultation and brought it in anyway. Now that's really democratic, isn't it? :confused:

Couldn't agree more.

EVERYONE I know and I MEAN everyone voted against Ken on this issue. He railroaded the whole thing through and got what he deserved
 
The only reason I bring Livingstone into it is because he had an expensive consultation which didn't give hime the result he wanted. So he ignored it and went ahead.

I hate dictators, whatever colour their politics.

That sodding consultation cost many many milions. Which I as a London taxpayer had to fund. Makes me livid. Massive waste of taxpayers' money. Not that Ken cared...he was on a crusade
 
Why does every thread concerning congestion charging wind up as a Ken-bashing fest? We've heard all this. He's history. Gone. The ex-mayor. He's not even nailed to his perch. We should all be closely looking at what Boris, the current Mayor, is up to.
 
Because it was all his idea and doing?
 

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