Anti-extension campaign goes up a gear
Friday June 25, 2010
The campaign to scrap the western extension of the Congestion Charge is going up a gear after residents took to the streets to mobilise the West London vote.
Members of the West London Residents Association (WLRA) have been out in force throughout June in an effort to get more people to respond to the Mayor of London’s latest consultation on scrapping the controversial extension.
Hundreds of shoppers, outside the King’s Mall in Hammersmith on Saturday June 12, made their views known and if enough residents vote to scrap the scheme in the coming weeks it could be gone by Christmas, according to the Mayor of London.
Mayor Johnson outlined plans to press ahead with the abolition of the extension following the 10-week consultation which closes on August 2. The third and final survey is a statutory requirement, according to Transport for London (TfL) officials.
WLRA Chairman Gordon Taylor says: “I have been out and about talking to local people and it is abundantly clear that the overwhelming majority of west Londoners want the extension scrapped as soon as possible.”
Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council is backing the WLRA campaign and is displaying the TfL consultation leaflets in council receptions and libraries.
“We appreciate the support of H&F Council,” continues Gordon. “But we also need to get the message across that if people do not fill out this final consultation there is a risk that the extension might not be scrapped. We all need to make our voices heard one last time!”
The £123million extension to the original central zone has been described as ‘West London’s invisible Berlin Wall’ after the effect it had in dividing families and cutting businesses off from their customers. Embarrassing figures, released by TfL in 2008, proved that the extension was failing to speed up travel times within the zone – with London’s streets officially as clogged up as they were before the levy was introduced in 2003.
Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Environment, says: “We all need to make our views known one more time if we want the western extension to be consigned to the dustbin of history. I know it feels like we have been here twice before but this is third time lucky. This is the last bureaucratic roadblock to scrapping the extension once and for all.”
Business, like florists, estate agents and dry cleaners, have complained about being cut off from customers as they cannot afford the £8 charge and H&F Council had to strengthen its parking controls around tube stations to stop out of borough commuters dropping cars off around them before finishing their journeys into the zone.
Cllr Botterill added: “The people who are paying the highest price for this failed scheme are the residents just outside the zone as we are the ones who do not get a discount. We are the ones who have to pay to take our children to school across the border. We are the ones who have to pay to visit friends or relatives inside the zone.
“The extension cannot be scrapped a moment too soon for us.”
If you want to respond to the consultation online, click on http://www.cclondon.com/ (opens new window). The consultation closes on August 2.
The next WLRA roadshow takes place between 11am - 4pm on Saturday July 17 outside the Kings Mall Shopping Centre, King Street, Hammersmith.
