Back Boris for Leap Year!
Dear Paul,
On this Leap Day, we’re asking you to make an important commitment that will have a major impact on your future… and the future of all Londoners.
Please pledge to vote for Mayor Boris Johnson on 3rd May: www.backboris2012.com/pledge
There are only 64 days to go until Londoners head to the polls to elect the next Mayor of London. As Boris supporters, you know how much is at stake.
The return of Ken Livingstone means a return to waste, high taxes, broken promises and Bob Crow and his cronies back at City Hall.
Times are tough, but Boris Johnson’s fresh and honest approach at City Hall is showing signs of progress. By ending the waste and mismanagement of the previous Mayor, Boris has freed up the money to pay for a strong plan for the future.
Boris’s Greater London plan is:
- Putting 1,000 more police officers on the street and cutting crime by over 10%
- Cutting council tax, having frozen it for the last three years saving the average household £445
- Investing £22bn in transport infrastructure, creating 32,000 jobs, linking our suburbs and cutting tube delays by 30% over the next three years
- Investing £221m in local high streets, supporting small businesses
It is imperative to protect this progress. We must not leave our future to chance. We must ensure that Boris gets another four years in office to build on his achievements and deliver his full Greater London Plan.
When it comes down to it, putting a cross next to Boris Johnson’s name on 3rd May is the most important action you can take. If you don’t vote, London’s future is at risk.
For this reason, I am asking you to please pledge to vote for Boris on 3rd May.
Take the pledge: www.backboris2012.com/pledge
Thank you for your continued support. Together, we will win this election and help Boris keep London moving forward to secure a Greater London.
Thanks for your support,
Lynton Crosby
BackBoris2012 Campaign Director
Better late than never – but why the delay?
This week’s Comet has news that Kingston Council has done a u-turn and beefed up its powers to veto roadworks likely to cause traffic misery.
For reasons best known to them alone, our local Lib Dems have ensured that Kingston is one of the last in Greater London to accept powers from Mayor Boris Johnson to force utility companies to get permission before digging up the roads.
The Liberal Democrat council refused to join the scheme, which allowed it to block road works that fail to minimise traffic disruption in 2010 because it was “not sure of its benefits”.
Conservative spokesman for transport Cllr David Cunningham said ‘I have just come back from Kings Road and have been held up in a traffic jam in something that does seem that, if it was better organised, there would not have been the same problems.’
Boris Johnson’s proposals will allow the council to charge companies heavy penalties for carrying out works in key locations during busy times.
Boris for Freedom!
from the Boris Johnson campaign HQ
Dear Paul,
Boris Johnson has today promised, if re-elected, he will extend the Freedom Pass to Londoners aged 60 years or older, reversing the decision taken by Ken Livingstone’s Labour to raise the age at which Londoners are entitled to free travel.
The move rewards those who have worked hard, paid their taxes, done the right thing and were entitled to expect their ticket to free travel on turning sixty.
Boris’s new pledge will mean that any resident of London aged 60 or older will be entitled to free travel on the bus, Tube, DLR and London Overground anywhere, anytime, any place in Greater London.
In 2008, Boris promised Londoners that he would give every 60 year old a 24 hour freedom pass. He delivered on that promise. But he is conscious – and has been increasingly concerned – that his promise of free travel has been eroded by Labour’s decision in 2009 to raise the age where Londoners qualify for free travel.
TfL have already budgeted for this modest cost next year and Boris is confident that his relentless savings drive will deliver the modest sums needed to guarantee it for the duration of the next mayoral term. Unlike Ken Livingstone, Boris only makes promises he can deliver and this promise today means any Londoner over sixty can ride the tube, bus, and overland any time, any place anywhere in greater London as long as he is in City Hall.
In 72 days’ time Londoners decide whether London goes forward under Boris Johnson rather than backwards under Ken
News from OUR local theatre
It was “House Full” at the cornerHOUSE comedy last week and promises to be so again on Thursday 8 March when Milton Jones ( http://www.miltonjones.com/ ) and Patrick Monahan ( http://www.patrickmonahan.co.uk/ ) take to the stage for Outside The Box. Tickets are on sale now through this link :
http://www.outsidetheboxcomedy.co.uk/show-listings.htm?id_club=1002 and, to avoid disappointment, you should book now if you wish to see Milton and Patrick.
As ever there is a chance of unannounced drop-ins ( Jon Richardson popped in last week, adding to a great bill headlined by Sean Hughes ) and line-up changes.
Scrutiny on Tolworth Broadway
See earlier posts on this and Tolworth Broadway page
At the Scrutiny Meeting on Thursday 16th February, Conservative Councillors debated concerns over the proposed Tolworth ‘Greenway’ Project. Cllrs Richard Hudson, Mike Burden and Karen George called in the decision as it failed to address issues around pedestrian safety, traffic congestion, a lack of sufficient consultation and issues around value for money for the tax payer. Leader of the Conservative Group and Chair of the Scrutiny Panel Cllr Howard Jones stated that every Councillor on both sides of the political spectrum supported the regeneration of Tolworth Broadway. However, the number one priority of the local authority should always be the safety of residents and visitors to our towns.
Cllr Jones said “This was not the right scheme for Tolworth, this is simply a ‘vanity project’ from the LibDems who have given the go ahead to a scheme which has received less than 10% feedback from the consultation, whilst also ignoring numerous safety reports conducted by independent auditors, that stated the risk of cyclists and pedestrians colliding with one another on the ‘Greenway’ is very likely.”
The LibDem Administration were convinced that the scheme was value for money despite 80% of the £2.6m cost of the project going directly to fund the resin-based gravel material, which will form the ‘Greenway’. It was discovered on the evening that Transport for London refused to take responsibility for the ‘Greenway’ if things were to go wrong. RBK will also have to pick up the bill in maintaining the central reservation and renewing the surface every 15years – potentially costing Kingston residents an additional £1m over that period of time.
Cllr Priyen Patel said “It’s ludicrous that we have a scheme which does not deliver what residents and businesses wanted. What is the point of carrying out a consultation if the LibDem Council will simply ignore those views and plough on with a completely different concept? The main improvements residents and local businesses wanted was increased parking and easing of traffic congestion – this scheme does neither.”
After nearly five hours debating it was clear the Lib Dem Councillors were not interested in the concerns of residents in the public gallery or those raised by Conservative Councillors. Cllr George said “This misconceived project for a ‘green utopia’ down one of the busiest intersections along the A3 will be a disaster waiting to happen – if this administration has any concern for the safety of the public, I urge you to halt this proposal.”
However, with the Lib Dems holding a majority on the panel the ‘Greenway’ was voted through with work expected to start imminently in preparation for the Olympics.
A recorded vote on the decision was requested by Cllr Jones and Cllr Cunningham.
Those for: Cllrs Stephen Brister, Alan Dean, Chrissie Hitchcock, Rachel Reid & Marc Woodall.
Those against: Cllrs Howard Jones, David Cunningham, Priyen Patel & Frank Thompson.
Are Ken’s fares really fair?
Do we really want to go back there?'
Labour’s chief Transport spokesperson has let the cat out of the bag on Ken Livingstone’s election promise to cut fares.
She has confirmed what everybody else knows: there is no money for fare cuts without cutting £1bn worth of investment in services.
In a candid interview with the Guardian today, Maria Eagle said: “Reducing the deficit requires us to support cuts in spending that we might not have in the past. Some of this is painful.”
This follows independent assessments of Ken Livingstone’s election promise that confirm he could not cut fares without cutting investment.
The Channel Four Fact Check blog recently concluded that; ‘If he cuts fares, TfL would expect to lose £1.12bn in income from fares – and that’s a hole he wouldn’t be able to plug without hitting the day-to-day funding for London’s transport or taking money from investment projects.’
It is becoming clearer by the day that either Ken Livingstone has no intention of ever cutting fares, or he is working on a behind the scenes plan to cut £1bn of investment.
This would mean axing local bus routes in the suburbs, cutting bus police, stopping tube station refurbishments and delaying programmes to make the tube more frequent and less overcrowded.
He must come clean with Londoners now. Which is it to be?
Surbiton Forum 