wrote:
On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 09:22:21 +0100
Robin wrote:
On 19/10/2020 08:37, wrote:
On Sat, 17 Oct 2020 10:23:28 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 23:01:02 on Fri, 16
Oct 2020, Ian Jackson remarked:
People who live in the "Circular" area, are people in normal
employment with lives that mean that they have to have a car.
and an annual tax of 5,475 pounds to own one, is bloody ridiculous
If the local councillors suggested this they would be out on their
ears at the next election
It's only because Boris is a Tory, and most of the affected LAs are
Labour/LibDem run that he has a hope of getting away with this
politically
but it's still a bag of nonsense socially.
It's nothing to do with congestion, but simply a potential way to
raise a poll-tax the pay for TfL's huge deficit.
After the N/S Circular, how long before the M25?
Some of the media is speculating already.
If Khan had a working pair of ******** he'd have called Boris' bluff over
this and said "Fine, the tube and bus will stop on [date] and londons
economy will come to a halt along with the substantial part of GDP it
generates. Enjoy.". But of course he hasn't and didn't.
One problem with that may be that the idea came from the Mayor's side:
Why was he pushing back against it then? From what I read in The Times the
other day it was Number 10 and the DtT pushing on moving the LEZ outwards as
a condition for the extra money.
Yes, this is a government proposal, being strongly resisted by the mayor:
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, was embroiled in a fresh row with the
Government on Friday as he fought against an extension of the congestion
charge zone in exchange for a Transport for London (TfL) bailout.
Ministers agreed a two-week rollover of current emergency support but
proposed a dramatic extension of the congestion zone to the North and South
Circular roads as a condition of further funding.
If no long-term bailout is secured, TfL could issue a Section 114 notice
which would declare it insolvent and lead to significant cuts to services.
A source close to Mr Khan said redrawing the £15-a-day congestion zone from
central London to the suburbs was "unacceptable".
"Negotiations are ongoing to do a deal to keep TfL services running," the
source said. "Conditions such as extending a £15 congestion charge to the
North and South Circular and taking free travel away from children and
older people would be totally unacceptable to the Mayor, and he would not
ask Londoners to accept them in these exceptionally difficult times."
…
The London Mayor had initially been seeking a £5.7 billion bailout for
London's transport network to protect the system for the next 18 months.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: "We have agreed an extension to
the support period for the Transport for London Extraordinary Funding
Agreement, allowing further time for negotiations. These discussions will
ensure London has a safe, reliable network. It would be inappropriate to
disclose further details at this stage."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/16/sadiq-khan-fights-against-extension-london-congestion-zone-bids/