Tonight:
4°c
THE MAYOR has kept his election promise and, as we report, tomorrow he will announce the outright abolition of the western zone of the congestion charge. It is a bold move: many people had expected him to retain the charge during the morning peak.The official announcement will be made in Portobello Road market, and with a reason. The chief problem about the western zone was that it adversely affected small businesses within the zone. Research by Transport for London found that there was a fall of two per cent in the number of people shopping in the area during the week and a rise of one per cent at weekends when the charge does not apply. And that trend will be more pronounced after the opening of the Westfield shopping centre, with space for thousands of cars, outside the charge zone. The figures do not take account of the economic downturn but it has fallen heavily on small traders: they need all the help they can get.
But even on its own terms - reducing congestion - the charge has not worked. Bus speeds are no higher than they were before it was introduced. And while 30,000 fewer cars enter the zone than before, this is partly offset by increased journeys on the fringe of the zone and by residents of the zone taking advantage of their reduced charge to drive in the central zone.
It is good that the Mayor is keeping his promises. Yet congestion remains a problem, and a robust approach by TfL to roadworks would help. Small businesses would profit from a more liberal parking policy. But the western zone is on the way out and the Mayor's supporters will feel vindicated.
Sir Ian bows out
TODAY is Sir Ian Blair's last day as Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Forced from his post by the Mayor, Sir Ian can nevertheless take pride in real achievements, notably the steady drop on his watch of most types of crime and his championship of neighbourhood policing. However, his failures should be a warning to his successor.
Sir Ian failed firstly because of his inability to stamp his authority on the force. His loss of credibility over his response to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes was serious, but it was visible in other ways too. The Met chief's prioritising of ethnic recruitment, however admirable, opened him up to a series of complaints by a handful of ambitious ethnic minority officers, most notably Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who this week finally abandoned his case against the Met. Sir Ian also made the fatal error of weighing in on the Government's side over its proposals for ID cards and for the detention before charge of terror suspects for 90 days.
But his successor will have to do more than avoid these mistakes. He will also have to adapt to a radically altered balance of power between Whitehall and City Hall. Ken Livingstone was an uncritical supporter of Sir Ian; since Boris Johnson took the chairmanship of the Metropolitan Police Authority in October it has become clear that the Mayor has a de facto veto over the Home Secretary's choice of Met Commissioner. The new Commissioner will have to deal with the competing demands of the Mayor and the Home Secretary, with the Mayor pushing for more community-based policing and Whitehall emphasising the Met's national responsibilities such as fighting terrorism. It will not be easy. But London needs a police chief able to inspire the confidence of the force and of Londoners in a way Sir Ian did not.
And celebrating...
LOW-KEY TALENT. Penelope Wilton, an actress who rarely gives interviews and, offstage, never seeks the limelight, casts a spell over the new production of TS Eliot's The Family Reunion and won rave reviews for her role in The Chalk Garden, for which, with Margaret Tyzack, she won the Evening Standard Best Actress award. Given the way older actresses are usually marginalised in theatre, she is an example of how real merit will out.
Reader views (3)
Well done, Boris. This fantastic news will cut nearly 10% of my business overhead at a stoke. But why do we have to wait so long for this unnecessary, expensive and illjudged tax to be axed? A payment holiday from the 1st January to the day it is finally switched off would be a wonderful boost for all hard hit businesses in the extention zone.
- Louise, London, 28/11/2008 11:49
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Dear Melvin Windebank,
“Boris has no mandate to abolish the charge”????
He is the elected Mayor of London and as your beloved communist friend “Red Ken” had the mandate to impose it, so does Boris to abolish it. The difference being that Ken imposed the C charge AGAINST the majority, while Boris is listening to the majority.
You have the audacity and ignorance to say that:
“This decision is based on a tiny minority of those with the biggest mouths in TORY West London”
Here are the results of the consultation:
“The five-week public consultation attracted nearly 28,000 responses, with 67 per cent of individual respondents and 86 per cent of businesses in favour of scrapping the western zone. Nineteen per cent wanted to keep the extension, and 12 per cent wanted to modify it.”
The congestion charge is nothing more than another money grab with no effect whatsoever on the environment. In effect the “zone” is creating an elitist area for the residents to be able to move easier in their “Chelsea tractors” without being inconvenienced by the rest of Londoners. And on top of this, the borders of the “zone” have become overcrowded with motorists trying to avoid id. Where do you think that smoke goes? I am tired of all of your kind, the “Eco-Nazis” trying to make us feel guilty for every little pleasure we get from driving. You’ll live to see how bad the country will suffer without the motorist and without the car industry. Cuba is very "clean". Your lot should move there.
- Danny R, London, UK, 28/11/2008 11:30
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Boris has no mandate to abolish the charge as unlike other candidates he only promised to CONSULT on the western extension. He should either wait to 2012 and stand as a candidate to abolish the scheme or hold an all London referendum so ALL Londoners can vote.
This decision is based on a tiny minority of those with the biggest mouths in TORY West London while its abolition will affect everyone who uses buses in central and inner west London.
Its not evenb what Boris really wanted but its what happens when you open your mouth BEFORE engageing your brain.
Should be an interesting experiment in what happens when you remove a charge lets hope not to many cyclists pay for this decision with their lives.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 27/11/2008 19:29
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