Are you nuts? The red flag came down about 14 years ago.
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Who got the BLAME for Heseltine's Millennium Dome Project going tits up?
- Thread starter Lord Bracknell
- Start date
Are you nuts? The red flag came down about 14 years ago.
Do you know what will be happening with East London Line Phase Two?
I'd heard from my sources it was pretty much approved but Ken couldn't announce it because of an embargo on announcing policy decisions in the run up to the election. I have never heard Boris mention ELL2 and I wanted to ask him at the Hustings I went to but some odious stand in was there who just got booed off. I hope he doesn't curtail it, it is a fundamentally good idea as is the whole London Overground project. I am based just by the Caledonian Road and Barnsbury Station and I never used it during Silverlink's time because it was very unreliable but it has improved a lot since November..
London Calling
New member
AS FAR i AM AWARE
it is going ahead from 2011,
money has been approved,
I know people at work who have day to day workings with the people leading on this, pm me if you want me to follow up.
Ken was right in not worrying too much whether the original price for the games was accurate, because he saw the bigger re-generation picture. Its too far down the line LB for Boris to change course now. Of course I hope he gets stick for something though because he is a Tory buffoon.
Exactly. It wont be rational. Remember Boris is a prize f***ing idiot.
While I don't want to get drawn into insulting Boris, it makes me wonder how much of Ken's London Boris can undo..
For example, I can't imagine Bendy Buses being withdrawn within four years and the Congestion Charge(bar the 4X4) will stay intact. I wonder if he will be a victim of his own promises, that he is unable to inact the changes he requires. This wasn't a problem for Ken because there was no previous slate, so to speak. Of course he could well benefit from the fact it could be an unknown against him in 2012. None of the parties really seem to have a success rate in getting credible people in to do it. I think Ken got renominated last year simply because everyone was too busy watching Tony hand over to Gordon. Cameron on the other hand courted Greg Dyke and a joint ticket with the Lib Dems before Boris arrived, almost as a last throw of the dice. And of course, the less said about Paddick the better.
Bizarre really, I'd love to be the mayor of London, be far more interesting than turning into a "rent a job" Charles Clarke/John Reid type character.
Lord Bracknell
On fire
- Thread starter
- #27
Doesn't London Overground depend upon the government handing over huge chunks of the Southern rail franchise to the mayor? Will that still go ahead with Boris being the recipient? And what about the impact on Southern services in Surrey and Sussex? Don't we get a say?
That was the additional side to it. The initial idea was to have an orbital railway that circled London without going into Zone 1. From Clapham Junction up to Willesden Junction on West London Line, then North London Line to Highbury and Islington, thn the extension of East London Line down to New Cross, before a a new junction linking it to the South London Line before Peckham and then heading into Clapham Junction.
The Southern Rail thing was an additional idea, but from what I heard a couple of weeks ago Ken hadn't managed to persuade Gordon. When I was at a phone bank session the other week, Ken and Gordon came round for the sky cameras, I then shouted to Gordon. "Give Ken more rail services!", to which Ken just laughed and said "I'm working on it!" and Gordon just didn't really respond.
Hunting 784561
New member
- Jul 8, 2003
- 3,651
There have only been 2 proposals to run London Overground over Southern overground lines that I'm aware of - the first is extending the East London line from New Cross Gate down to West Croydon - work on which has already started, and this route appears on London Underground maps already.
The other route is from New Cross Gate across south London to Clapham Junction, but this is not fully budgeted or approved yet.
Not aware of any other proposals in the pipeline - what were the other Southern plans ??
Blackadder
Brighton Bhuna Boy
To me it's got nothing to with the politics. it's just that Boris comes over as a, how can I put it?, a likeable bufoon. OK to have as a guest at a dinner party! But to run the capital?
NCG to CJ is the work that has been "approved", as I heard anyway at the ned of last month.
The plan, though I never got any detailed explanation, was to take over Southern commuter routes that left from Victoria/London Bridge and put them under London Overground control. Now I have no idea how this was to be implemented and what it would include or exclude. This was thought to be the reason behind the stalling of the renewal of Southern's franchise. However from what I heard, Gordon didn't agree to it in the end.
The Clown of Pevensey Bay
Well-known member
It's all explained on this quite astoundingly good blog
London Connections: A walk along East London Line phase 2
London Connections: A walk along East London Line phase 2
Yes, I looked at that myself. It's very good that website. I personally think regardless of whom is mayor, ELL2 should be approved because it is a relatively short stretch of work to be done(as the pictures show) and it would help rail connections in South London. The fact the area has no real tube infrastructure really helps to hold it down, I mean, it takes so much longer to get anywhere in South London(aside from a few strategic outposts like Brixton!)
Lord Bracknell
On fire
- Thread starter
- #34
... which, of course, raises the question of what exactly are the powers of the Mayor?
It seems to me that the Labour government has been quite happy to work with Ken Livingstone on a programme of works that have eventually been presented to the world as initiatives thought up by the Mayor.
With Boris Johnson now occupying the position, it's quite possible that the government will reclaim its programme and implement it as ideas thought up by Ruth Kelly. Boris can whistle for what he'd like to see, but the final say will stay with the government (as it always has).
Popular initiatives will get the Gordon Brown stamp of approval put on them. Boris will be allowed the credit (or given the blame) only for things that look like they might go wrong. And there is no way that Gordon will allow Boris to establish a reputation as a Mayor who can negotiate successfully with the government to implement projects that Londoners want.
That is what I have been thinking myself. The office of mayor is so new that there has only been one precedent, Ken. Aside from the whole court case over the PPP, they have generally been favourable to Ken but as you say, it has always been Ken's projects, not Ruth Kelly/Alistair Darlings. And I agree with you totally, I think they will desperately try and claw political capital(no pun intended) back by planting their lot in there, when possible.
The fact Boris is keeping Hendy at TFL and O'Toole at LU seems to imply(for now anyway) he realises that continunity is better at this current junction. I personally think any transport errors haven't necessarily been theirs and mainly come from Brown's botched PPP, but of course Ken couldn't say that in Election run-up.