Caroline Pidgeon

Caroline Pidgeon has backed a High Court action launched by local authorities, green groups and residents' groups, challenging the government's decision to approve a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow Airport.

The coalition’s lawyers will be claiming in court that the consultation process was fundamentally flawed, that the decision to expand Heathrow is at odds with the UK’s overall climate change targets, and that the number of measures introduced to pass the plans through Parliament mean the expansion is fundamentally different to the proposals on which the Government consulted the public in 2007. The Transport Department’s lawyers are now claiming the new measures were not part of the decision to expand Heathrow.

If the coalition wins, the decision to proceed with the runway may be overturned.

Caroline Pidgeon AM joined Enfield Liberal Democrats at the Enfield Town Show on Saturday 5th September. The local Lib Dems are campaigning hard to persuade the Mayor of London, to sort out the derelict homes on TfL land on the North Circular.

“So many people stopped by the stall for a chat and to sign our petition, as well as to support our One Hour Bus ticket campaign” commented Caroline Pidgeon AM.

She also highlighted the local rail travellers' petition to have pay-as-you-go Oyster cards accepted at Enfield’s overground stations.

Caroline said:

In his transport manifesto, the Mayor stressed the importance of holding an 'emergency' train summit with the train operating companies (TOCs) to ensure that Oyster was available at every train station.

One year later the harsh reality is that no train summit has been called and every promise the Mayor has made about Oyster extension has been delayed again and again. Quite frankly Boris Johnson has seen more train delays than Reggie Perrin.

The Mayor has declared his intention to make 2011 the ‘year of walking’ and allocated millions of pounds to the cause, but will his proposals see more Londoners making their journeys on foot?

Caroline Pidgeon AM will lead an investigation on behalf of the Assembly’s Transport Committee to assess the effectiveness of current plans to get people walking and look at what more could be done.

Almost a quarter of all journeys in the capital are made on foot – nearly 6 million trips every day – making up nearly a third of the total time Londoners spend travelling. The Mayor’s Transport Strategy states that he wants to see the share of all journeys made on foot increase to 25 per cent by 2031 – an extra million journeys a day.

To help meet this target, the Mayor and Transport for London have allocated over £200 million over the next three years to ‘Better Streets’ - which includes schemes ranging from de-cluttering streets to pedestrianisation - and ‘Better Green and Water Spaces’ to improve access to London’s parks, rivers and canals.

Caroline Pidgeon AM said:
“The Mayor wants 2011 to be the ‘year of walking’ but to encourage more Londoners to make their journeys on foot he will have to carefully tailor his proposals and investment.

Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat group leader in the London Assembly, has criticised Conservative Assembly members for staging a walkout from the Assembly in order to prevent a vote against heavy cuts in ticket office services at London Underground stations.