Bearded wrote:


But I'm sure our crack kremlinologists [borisologists? kulveerologists?]
will find much of interest in the fine detail.

Was out last night so haven't had a chance, but the initial standouts
from other reactions seem to be:
a) the consultation had very little effect on the draft, which is mostly
as it stands in the final version - this has annoyed a lot of people
b) Boris is moving towards the idea of big fixed road links in the east,
which he previously campaigned against - one of my Boris Predictions is
that he'll support constructing part of the old Ringways scheme, which
the Thames Gateway Bridge is the most obvious candidate
c) relaxation of rules on new roadbuilding is one of those little
timebombs that never gets any attention - it's apparently in the London
Plan too (something like removing the requirement for new roads to
support specific regeneration, opening the way to building roads purely
for congestion relief, which is obviously idiotic).
d) WEZ scrapping and LEZ 3 postponement going ahead regardless of the
fact that they go totally against the stated policy, which does rather
make one question the whole thing.
e) there's nothing about the Thames Estuary Airport, despite this being
hailed in various quarters as Boris's Big Transport Scheme. That's dead
then.

What's also noteworthy is that the Strategy legally has to have regard
for national priorities which in the current climate is impossible to
verify since we don't know what those will be next week. Boris did take
the opportunity yesterday to tell the Conservatives that they were fully
committed to Crossrail, which, as far as I'm aware, they aren't, actually.

Tom