Leader of the Conservative group hopes for same on John Aird House
Following recent quotes by Cllr Ruth Cadbury on the thorny issue of the Mayor's congestion charging zones Cllr Peter Thompson claims, in a letter to the Hounslow Chronicle, that Cllr Cadbury has made a u-turn. Last week it was revealed that the Mayor had sent engineers to boroughs in West London including Ealing and Hounslow to look at the possibility of extending the congestion charge zone.
He states �There is quite nothing like an 'executive' promotion to make one U-turn on an issue. In this case, I am delighted, to read Cllr Ruth Cadbury explain why Congestion Charging in Hounslow and the Heathrow Area would not work ('Our roads remain free to drive on' � 19 June. Letter to Hounslow Chronicle)."
He claims that when Mayor Livingstone first consulted on this issue, at the 11 December 2001, Committee of the Council Meeting, all Labour colleagues voted for and supported the idea of congestion charging around Heathrow. According to Cllr Thompson the Executive's response to the Mayor suggested that they believed there was a high level of support for the proposal across the community. Cllr. Cadbury, who has responsibility for transport issue on Hounslow's ruling executive, now says that the charge should not be extended because of West London's inadequate public transport system.
He added, "The Conservatives were the only Group who voted against the idea, on the grounds that it was an anti-car tax and that until a reliable and attractive alternative is available, then the motorist should not be penalised for trying to make a living.�
Cllr Thompson expressed the hope that given that Cllr Cadbury changed her mind on this issue that she can be prevailed upon to change her mind on John Aird House which is in her ward and she has voted to close. Cllr. Cadbury has also changed her mind on parking charges in Chiswick describing the premium paid locally as "unjustified". However a report prepared by her which recommended reduction looks set not to be implemented because of lack of support from other area committees across the borough that would have seen charges rise.
Ken Livingstone told us in an exclusive interview that it was too early to talk about definite plans to extend the zone. He said "Certainly the scheme has proved successful so far in reducing the traffic coming into central London, and it may well be the case that in the future that we will consider with the boroughs immediately adjoining the current zone the potential merits of extending the zone. But before that happens we need to have a full picture of what the impact of the scheme has been so far and there are no plans in place to extend the zone at this early stage."
June 18, 2003