Boris scraps £3billion of Ken’s transport projects for London

Mayor Boris Johnson will today announce plans to ditch several of Ken Livingstone's projects as he outlines the £39billion budget for transport projects to be delivered by 2018.

The Mayor will instead focus on Crossrail and pressing ahead with the major upgrade of the Underground.

Announcing his Transport for London business policy, Mr Johnson revealed further savings of £2.4billion in job cuts and efficiencies over the next 10 years.

Projects which will be scrapped include:

●Proposals for a £500million tram along Oxford Street.

●The Thames Gateway Bridge, running from Newham to Greenwich, costing more than £500million.

●The Cross River tram intended to ease pressure on the Northern line, costing £1.3billion.

●An extension of the DLR to Dagenham Docks, costing £750million.

●The Greenwich Waterfront Transit, a bus route linking the O2 Arena with bus and Tube stops and East London transit, costing £370million.

●The Croydon Tramlink extension, that would have reduced journey times between Croydon and Crystal Palace to 18 minutes, at a cost of £170million.

●Public space proposals, costing more than £100million, including the pedestrianisation of Parliament Square.

Mr Johnson's official spokesman said: "What we want to do is stop pretending the tooth fairy will come. Some of the plans we just don't have the money for and the others were never very good ideas anyway."

Mr Johnson said consultations had cost TfL £70million and to implement the plans would mean finding more than £3billion of "magic money".

TfL has also agreed to employ consultants to look at how further savings could be found including examining pay structures and bonuses.

TfL will now focus on the upgrades of the Piccadilly, District, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines which will provide a 28 per cent increase in capacity by 2018.

There will be further schemes to cool deeper Tube lines, and major improvements at Tottenham Court Road, Victoria, Bond Street and Paddington.

Mr Johnson said: "I will not continue with the former Mayor's unrealistic and hollow promises. The last administration's commitments amounted to billions of pounds' worth of schemes that London could simply never afford.

"A good transport system is essential to improving quality of life, as the more time Londoners spend shoehorned onto trains, Tube carriages or buses, the less time they have to themselves or to spend with their families."

But the London Assembly Labour group criticised the move. Transport spokeswoman Val Shawcross said: "The Mayor has said a lot about the need to invest in major projects for the sake of London's economy. Yet here he is making a bonfire of much-needed transport schemes vital to the economic regeneration of the city."