Havering's Newest Councillor

Is my good friend Lynden Thorpe, who tonight won the hotly contested Squirrel's Heath by election. The Conservative campaign was well planned, well supported and extremely hard work, which paid off with the following result:

Conservative 1,828
Residents 310
Labour 210
National Liberals 170
UKIP 134
Spoiled papers 5

On a low turnout in a strong ward, this still represented a swing to us from the residents and Labour. The Labour result was particularly poor.

I am looking forward to working with Cllr Thorpe, who will be a great member of our authority.

September Londoner

Has just hit my doormat. This is the second 'bus fare cut' edition following last month's 'award winning' production. Typical - you wait three and a half years for a mention of fares, then two come along at once...

This time you can enjoy:

Bus fares down by 10% from the end of September Front page (pretty similar to August's front page)

Using Oyster slashes the cost of travel Pg2

Have your say on charging heavy polluters Pg3

Safer transport patrols in all 21 of capital's outer boroughs Pg5

Half price bus fares for Londoners on income support Pg6

Builders given green light on Olympic site Pg7

Freedom passes are a 'lifeline for over 60s' Pg9

The challenge facing the Met Pg10, double page interview with Sir Ian Blair

Pg13 features a picture of clowns gathering for a meeting - add your own caption.

This latest 'low fares' edition was sponsored by advertising from TfL (pg4), the Liberty Festival (pg6), Summer of Sport (pg12), TfL (pg16), and TfL, with the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela !! (back page).

The Mayoral Hustings Comes to Redbridge

And I'm going to be chairing it!

The date is 11th September, the venue is the Lambourne Room at Ilford Town Hall. Hustings begin at 7.30pm and will provide an opportunity for all 4 Conservative nominees to lay out their proposals in front of a local audience.

The four candidates are:

Andrew Boff, former leader of Hillingdon Council and former Hackney Councillor.

Victoria Borwick, Kensington & Chelsea Councillor.

Boris Johnson, MP for Henley and newspaper columnist.

Warwick Lightfoot, former Mayor of Kensington & Chelsea.

To attend you need to register by contacting emma.gold@conservatives.com or you can ring Emma direct on 020 7984 8152.

We want a packed audience to put them (and me) through their paces...

Clearing my Desk

Just for summer, so don't anyone get too excited...

In one of the drawers I unearthed a plastic pass card with my picture on it. Unremarkable, until I realised that it had been issued on a visit to the World Trade Centre, dated 2 February 2001. Some members were visiting New York to see what Bob Kiley had done for their subway system - little did we know how the world would change in just a few months. Some quotes from New Yorkers we met have remained with me:

When I heard there were English people here, I just had to drop by to thank you for the way you have always stood by our country in difficult times - a senior official at the World Trade Centre made this prophetic comment.

Not every fare evader is a criminal, but every criminal is a fare evader -The subway police chief talks about their policy of following up the police files of ticket dodgers.

Giuliani only gets elected because the white European immigrants support him - One of many democrats we met who complained about the mayor being right wing, and popular.

There was this stretch of road in Queens where we had a lot of pedestrians being run over, so we deployed our police and prosecuted people for jay walking - One of the Mayor's transport advisors explained their approach to road safety.

We really loved your Margaret Thatcher - A senior representative of the subway workers union, clearly out of step with our own RMT.

And best of all, when we got back home:

He's made a much better job of your Tube than he did of ours - A New York tourist visiting London (Kiley was due to take up his post as London Transport Commissioner several months later)

London is a Region - and that's Official

Another gem from the July decision list. the Mayor has agreed to the GLA becoming a member of the English Regions Network (whatever that is):

The annual membership fee agreed between the GLA and the English Regions Network has been established at £10,000 per annum. The first year membership fee will cover the period until the end of March 2007, costs of which will be met from the 2007/08 Borough Liaison Programme budget.

The date suggests that we have paid retrospectively for last year, let's hope it's a typo. The English Regions Network is pretty low profile - they should be paying us to join them...

Lights, Cameras, Inaction!

The Mayor's decision list is out for July, making interesting reading. There's lots of spending - obviously summer is an expensive time at City Hall. An example is the approval of a video for the launch of the draft Mayor's Housing Strategy:

The estimated cost of producing the video to the GLA is £32,000 and will be met from the housing & homelessness programme budget.

The GLA doesn't build any homes, but it provides something to watch - and this is just the draft strategy. Whatever will the video for the adopted strategy cost?

Capital Ring - Beckton to Woolwich

Completed the last stage this morning. Unfortunately the final river walk is closed off for development works (and has been for over two years) and the alternative is a less interesting walk along a road past the airport. Hopefully TfL and the LDA will sort this section out soon.

My next project will be the much longer London Loop.

August Londoner

The latest edition of the 'award winning' Londoner is landing on doormats around town. Highlights include:

Bus fares to be cut by ten per cent (front page)

New powers will ease the cost of housing for all of the capital's families (pg2)

Nelson Mandela's statue to be unveiled later this month (pg3)

Cheaper bus fares for London (Mayor's column pg5)

Cleaners' victory against supporters of poverty pay (pg6)

Londoners on income support to get half price bus fares next month (Chavez deal pg7)

Londoners say keep the Freedom Pass (pg9)

This low bus fares edition was sponsored by full page advertising from TfL on pages 4,16 and 20. I don't recall seeing any articles in the Londoner when bus fares went up by more than inflation for three years in a row...

Another Black Day at Blackwall

TfL have just announced further changes to the operation of the Blackwall Tunnel, effective from Sunday 19th August. To summarise, between the hours of 0100 and 0800 on every Sunday morning one bore of the tunnel will be closed for maintenance. We can't have contraflow in the other tunnel any more because it is deemed to be 'dangerous' (although it is 'safe' all the time in the Rotherhithe Tunnel), so the following will apply (in their own words):

1. Northbound traffic will use the southbound tunnel.

2. Southbound traffic will be diverted via Central London and the Dartford Crossings.

3. The 108 bus will not be diverted but southbound services will be individually escorted through the tunnel while northbound traffic is held at a red signal.

There's not a lot of traffic about early on a Sunday, but those drivers who are around are likely to be more than a little confused and frustrated, particularly given the lack of wider consultation, yet again.

Capital Ring, Stoke Newington to Beckton

Completed another stretch today - some 8.5 miles, in very pleasant weather, defying the promise of heavy rain. The first section follows the Lea Navigation, one of East London's best kept secrets and well worth a look. The second half along the top of the Northern Outfall Sewer is a bit bleak but still interesting.

Only the last stretch to North Woolwich left now and at less than 4 miles I should be able to complete it before breakfast one day soon. Then I will be looking for another walking project.

Congratulations to Andrew

Good news from the reshuffle. My MP, Andrew Rosindell, has been made a shadow home office minister in the reshuffle. One of his responsibilities will be animal welfare, an issue which I know he cares about passionately. Animals may not have votes but now they have a genuine champion who will pursue their interests.

Together with James Brokenshire, MP for Hornchurch, Havering now has two shadow home office ministers. Perhaps this will help us get the police resources that we need (particularly on a Saturday night). Upminster MP, Angela Watkinson, is a whip for the opposition so all the borough's MPs are on the front bench.

Twenty Years - and Counting

This week, or thereabouts, marks an important anniversary in my calendar. It is twenty years since I arrived in London.

In early July 1987 I got off the train at King's Cross with a very heavy suitcase and a promise of a job at Post Office Headquarters, then located in Grosvenor Place. I made my way to the Montagu Hotel near Russell Square, where they were putting me up until I could find somewhere more permanent.

I intended to stay for a couple of years and then move back 'Up North', but I could never tear myself away. I lived in South Woodford (one year), Leytonstone (14 years) and Romford (for the last five).

And I did things I never expected I would - became a school governor, stood for the council, got called to The Bar, won a seat on the Assembly, nearly became a candidate for Mayor, had three girlfriends, learned the value of my own company.

It's been - on the whole - a fantastic experience which I wouldn't have missed. So here's to London, a place that changes people....

You're Fired!

Livingstone has announced that he will not be sanctioning the appointment of Conservative or Lib Dem members to the Fire Authority this year.

Ostensibly this is because we - for I am included - are male, and he wants more women members. However he has reappointed the Labour and Green men to the board. Last year he lost political control of the authority and we overturned some of his wackier proposals, including the forced contribution of Fire Brigade money to his 'award winning' free sheet, The Londoner.

So the real minorities Livingstone is trying to protect are his own supporters. And democracy comes a poor second to political correctness in the Mayor's office.

Blackwall Tunnel

The tidal flow arrangement was ceased and thousands of drivers inconvenienced because of alleged dangerous driving by some individuals. But had other options been considered? The following exchange is illuminating:

Bob Neill: How many prosecutions have been launched in pursuit of those who drive dangerously in the Blackwall Tunnel since 2005?

Ken Livingstone: I have been informed by the MPS that there were NO incidents recorded for the offence of dangerous driving. The MPS did however record 2 incidents since 2005; one of which was an offence for a dangerous load and the other a speeding and document offence.

Other incidents relate primarily to damage only collisions, the majority of which are self reported and resulted in no further action as no offences were disclosed or verified.

And the dangerous load offence was dismissed at court...

More Logo Fun

This came from a paper approved at yesterday's budget committee:

Develop a London Brand

The long term goal for the sponsorship function, particularly in the lead up to the 2012 Games, is to develop a consolidated London brand, in which all of the GLA group are stakeholders, similar in scale to the New York brand example.

Let's hope the result is better than the recent 2012 effort and that it is the product of a genuine consultation rather than the choice of the usual suspects.

Does the GLA need a brand?
What should it look like?

Tube Ticket Office Closures

London Underground have revealed a plan to remove ticket office staff at forty of the less busy stations on the network. The redeployment of staff to platform duties is a consequence of Oyster card introduction and this is a matter for London Underground but the actual closure of offices has not been raised before. We can expect to see local campaigns at some locations. Proposed ticket machine only stations are:

Barkingside, Becontree, Boston Manor, Buckhurst Hill.
Canons Park, Cannon Street, Chesham, Chiswick Park, Chorleywood, Croxley.
Debden.
East Putney.
Fairlop.
Hornchurch.
Goldhawk Road.
Ickenham.
Latimer Road.
Mansion House, Mill Hill East, Moor Park.
North Ealing, North Harrow, Northwood Hills.
Park Royal, Perivale.
Ravenscourt Park, Regent's Park, Royal Oak, Ruislip, Ruislip Gardens.
South Ruislip, Sudbury Hill.
Temple, Totteridge & Whetstone.
Upney.
West Acton, West Finchley, West Harrow, West Ruislip, Wimbledon Park.

The proposals are subject to consultation and agreement with the unions but are planned for March 2008 - three months before the Mayor faces re-election...

Blackwall Tunnel Tidal Flow

The London Assembly Transport Committee will be considering TfL's decision to end the morning tidal flow at the Blackwall Tunnel. At the meeting on 7th June at City Hall, representatives of TfL and the Met Police will be explaining their decision and the lack of consultation. There will also be evidence from borough councils affected by the extra traffic and congestion which have resulted.

The committee has no power to change the Mayor's decision but we will be exploring the consultation process, possible alternative measures and the future plans for both the Blackwall and Rotherhithe Tunnels.

Olympics 2012 Logo

We've all seen it by now. I'm not going to offer an opinion but it says something when even the Mayor reserves his support. Perhaps we won't be seeing much more of it, because it allegedly triggers epilepsy - although there are other good reasons too...

Capital Ring - South Kenton to Highgate

11 miles completed in the sun on Sunday. This is a pleasant walk through suburbs and green space in North London. High points included the Welsh Harp Reservoir and the final section through Highgate Wood and Queen's Wood. I also stopped off for a bagel in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Not so good was the signage particularly in Barnet, where many were missing, making a straightforward walk more confusing than it needed to be.

Lib Dem GLA List Selected

There's a great story over at Iain Dale's Diary about the Lib Dem list selection. Their members have been getting stirred up about a bias in favour of South West London, which they say has been perpetuated by the selection system. It's certainly true with the present members:

Lord Tope - Sutton
Baroness Hamwee - Richmond
Mike Tuffrey - Lambeth
Dee Doocey - Richmond
Geoff Pope - Richmond

Not sure where the two new candidates come from, but I can make a wild guess...

Lib Dems are also unhappy with the lack of ethnic minority candidates on the list.

And they make some rather cruel comments about the performance of the incumbents...