Date published: 2005/09/30
The BBC says:
The London congestion charge zone is to be extended to include Kensington and Chelsea, the Mayor has announced.
From February 2007, motorists will have to pay £8 on weekdays when crossing the new boundary in west London.
Critics say extending the zone will push traffic into Hammersmith and Fulham and could kill off local trade.
Ken Livingstone also announced that from September 2006 drivers could pay the current central London charge the day after travelling in the zone.
Currently drivers must pay in advance or on the day of travelling.
When the Chelsea and Kensington extension comes into effect, charging hours will end 30 minutes earlier at 6pm.
A Transport for London survey showed 63% of residents and 72% of firms were opposed to the western extension.
Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokesman Geoff Pope said the extension decision "flew in the face of common sense" and was "the wrong scheme at the wrong time".
Referring to London's falling retail figures, London Chamber of Commerce press and public affairs director Dan Bridgett said: "This is a bad decision at the worst possible time".
He added that the message that most companies opposed the extension had been "received, understood and blatantly ignored".
But the Mayor said the extension would reduce traffic in the zone by up to 22%, shaving five minutes off a typical journey time.
Wow, five whole minutes. That certainly means it's worth introducing further social apartheid onto the streets of London (the rich, e.g. those in taxis, get a free pass, the poor get told to go to hell). And in line with most consultations, the ruling elite just ignore any result which doesn't confirm their prejudices. (But Livingstone has done a poor job, usually the ruling elite make sure the consultation process gives the result they want.)
And Liberal Democrat Geoff Pope should perhaps read page 32 of his party's manifesto for the UK election this past May:
Congestion charging in London (first proposed by the Liberal Democrats) has cut pollution, cut traffic jams and paid for new investment in buses. We will encourage more cities and towns where traffic congestion is a problem to extend congestion charging.
Well, of course he is the transport spokesman in the London Assembly, not the House of Commons. LibDems, being a party of the comfortable middle class (along with the Greens), generally hate cars (there's nothing worse than an independently mobile working class), hence the national policy as stated in the manifesto.
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