"Recliner" wrote:

"Basil Jet" wrote:

On 2011\01\28 14:51, Recliner wrote:
From: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12306090

A planned cable car across the River Thames to link 2012 Olympic
venues has been approved by Greenwich Council.

Thanks. IIRC the exact same scheme was also approved in the run up to
the Millennium Dome, so I'll believe it when I see it.

Yes, they're cutting it a bit fine, with both time and budget. However,
with Boris being a supporter, I suspect he may be able to get it done (I
guess London didn't have a mayor last time, plus the Dome was a central
government project, not a local effort). I wonder if he can lay his hands
on any Olympic subsidy?


No - the time for laying claim to any of that has long passed, and given the
Olympic budgets have already been squeezed recently (e.g. see the main
stadium 'wrap' being dropped) there's no spare pot of Games cash just lying
around that could be raided for this.

As this earlier story from the Beeb makes clear...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12020689
....this was another one of those things that Boris blithely promised could
be funded privately, or with no extra recourse to the public purse (see also
the Boris Bus and Boris Bike schemes, for example) - but it's now getting
£1.21m from the LDA. Boris should stop trying to think that he can wave a
magic wand and make big things happen without spending any money! (May I
coin 'Bozzanomics'?)

Note that I'm not against this cable car scheme at all - it'd be great, but
if it does happen I imagine it'd be more like a London Eye type attraction
(though I'm not entirely sure that the visage of West Silvertown over which
the cable car would run [1], with Canning Town in the distance, is that
attractive - of course Excel, the Dome and some of the surrounding
developments are quite impressive, and the views whilst hanging over the
river of the Isle of Dogs and the Wharf would surely impress too, as would
the view of London stretching into the distance.)

It's worth noting that all that has actually happened here is that LB
Greenwich has given planning permission, as LB Newham has already done -
AFAICS it still seems some way off from actually happening (unless there's a
stinking rich magnate lurking in the shadows who wants to try and buy some
favour with the British establishment).

And no more Red Bull Air-Races over the Thames there if it does!


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[1] UIVMM some of the waste-type land at West Silvertown (part of which is
occupied by a breakers yard) is safeguarded for future use as part of a
third Blackwall river crossing - I can't imagine that safeguarding being
lifted so I imagine this plot, which the cable car is likely to travel over
or at least next to, isn't about to be developed into something eye-pleasing
any time soon.)