High fares are putting Londoners off public transport, new data reveals February 20, 2023 High TfL ticket prices are deterring more than one third of Londoners from using the Tube, buses and trains, data has revealed. Some 37 per cent of Londoners said ticket prices put them off using the capital’s transit networks, according to a survey by Hitachi Rail. It also found that more Londoners are put off [...]
Ulez expansion: Five Tory councils launch legal challenge against Sadiq Khan’s plan February 17, 2023 Five Conservative-led councils said they have started a legal challenge over Sadiq Khan’s decision to expand London’s ultra low emission zone (Ulez). The outer London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow and Hillingdon, together with Surrey County Council, issued a joint statement announcing they have launched a judicial review into the Labour mayor’s plan. A spokesman [...]
Boris Johnson brands ULEZ expansion a ‘mad lefty tax’ February 15, 2023 Boris Johnson has branded Sadiq Khan’s plans to expand the ULEZ across the capital a “mad lefty tax” and accused him of “bankrupting TfL”. The ex-prime minister and London mayor weighed in on the row over the controversial scheme, which would see drivers of non-compliant vehicles charged £12.50 a day. In a video posted on [...]
Four rebel Labour MPs reveal opposition to Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ expansion plans February 15, 2023 Mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to expand ULEZ has hit a further roadblock after four Labour MPs came out against the scheme. Seema Malhotra, Jon Cruddas, Siobhain McDonagh and Abena Oppong-Asare all told LBC they had concerns about the policy’s impact. Khan wants to extend the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) and the £12.50 daily charge [...]
London to face second-lowest rise in council tax among UK regions February 14, 2023 Cash-strapped Londoners are set for a slight boost as it emerged that the region is set to raise average council tax rates by the second-lowest amount in the UK. Of the councils who have declared their municipal tariffs for 2022-23, London boroughs collectively came in second from the bottom of the pile, at a 4.4 [...]
Affordable homes: London targets not being met despite 50 per cent rise in construction projects, claim Tories February 14, 2023 London mayor Sadiq Khan has been criticised for being behind on building targets for affordable homes, despite new construction projects increasing on last year. City Hall says 900 more affordable homes were completed in the financial year to December 2022 than in the same period last year, a rise of 50 per cent. But Tory [...]
‘Unmitigated disaster’: Unions and Sadiq Khan slam transport sec Mark Harper’s rail reform plan February 8, 2023 Unions and Sadiq Khan have slammed the government’s plans to enhance the private sector’s role in railways, calling it “an unmitigated disaster.” It comes after transport secretary Mark Harper announced last night the creation of Great British Railways (GBR), saying the new public body will take “politics out of the railways.” According to Harper yesterday, [...]
ULEZ expansion ‘not the answer’: Rebel boroughs Harrow and Bromley warn Khan of impact on ‘poorest and vulnerable’ February 7, 2023 Harrow and Bromley councils have responded to a letter from Sadiq Khan over the expansion of ULEZ, warning of its impact on the poorest. Harrow councillor Paul Osborn wrote to Khan earlier this week, reiterating that the expansion of the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) to include the whole of Greater London was “not the answer” [...]
Sadiq Khan warns rebel boroughs against challenging ULEZ expansion February 6, 2023 Sadiq Khan has warned a number of rebel boroughs against challenging the London-wide expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone, or ULEZ, saying their case was “wholly without merit and misconceived.” Four Conservative boroughs sent a pre-action letter to Transport for London (TfL) on 13 January, challenging Khan’s decision to expand the ULEZ to Greater [...]
Much of the blame for Sadiq Khan’s tax hikes lays in Whitehall January 18, 2023 Sadiq Khan is unlikely to be flavour of the month in too many London households this morning. Yesterday he announced a combination of top-up charges to Council Tax and an across-the-board increase in transport costs across London. The London Conservatives are, unsurprisingly, up in arms. But much of the blame lies not at City Hall’s [...]