West London Orbital Railway - A measure of Sadiq Khan's failure?

Almost since this blog first started in October 2008, we've followed and supported proposals for the development of a lightly used freight railway between Cricklewood and Acton as a passenger railway to releive pressure on the North Circular and to open up access to West London. 

The first blog on the subject was posted in January 2009, when local transport campaigner contacted me to see if I supported the Brent Cross light railway scheme. This was an ambitious scheme to convert several disused and freight lines into a tram network. I thought the scheme warranted serious investigation. Needless to say, the local Tory regime of Mike Freer and Brian Coleman had no interest at all. Although it was pretty clear to me that elements of the scheme were, shall we say, a tad overambitious, I thought it was a genuine attempt to crystalise the options for public transport in North West London. The more I researched the subject, the clearer it was that there was one part of the scheme that was an absolute no brainer. That was what has become the West London Orbital Railway proposal from Acton to Brent Cross. When Richard Cornelius became Tory leader of Barnet Council, I discussed this with him. To my surprise, he agreed and informed me that there was a forum called the 'West London Alliance', which formed local councils. Richard was committed to pushing the scheme through. He informed me that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson was also broadly supportive, if the scheme could be demonstrated to be viable and technically feasable.

In 2016, Sadiq Khan became Mayor of London and in 2017 TFL adopted the West London Orbital Scheme as one of the higher priority schemes on the table for London. Studies were done to assess the feasability and in laymans terms ( I don't write blogs for industry insiders who know all of the technical language), it was a complete no brainer. It met all of the criteria for a public infrastructure project in terms of cost benefits and technical feasability and could be delivered quickly. It opened up opportunites for over 12,000 new homes and would make getting from across the West of London far easier by public transport. Just to illustrate, I went to watch Brentford FC play at home recently. The journey took nearly 90 minutes. With WLO, it would take 19 minutes from Hendon to the nearest station. 

The only fly in the ointment is that there is no funding for the project. We have seen, with the Elizabeth line, what happens when you provide good quality public transport. However despite such lessons being there for all to see, the plans languish at the bottom of a pile of papers with the treasury and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves. It seems to me to be incomprehesible that any competent chancellero cannot understand that investment in infrastructure makes you money. A competent Mayor would be banging the drum loudly, pointing out the huge return on investment such projects deliver. We were promised that when we had a Labour Mayor and a Labour government, such things would be delivered. The opposite has happened. We have a situation where the Mayor is unwilling to critise or put pressure on the chancellor. My biggest issue with Sadiq Khan is that he is clueless when it comes to business and money. He doesn't seem to understand that the way to make money is to invest and so all he does is sit on his hands. If we had a dynamic Mayor, the scheme could have been delivered, in some form by now and be delivering benefits to the TFL budget. Instead, we hear that it is 'behind a DLR extension in the queue for cash'. It is ridiculous to manage infrastructure schemes in such a manner. There is a massive difference between borrowing money to build projects that make you money, as opposed to borrowing simply to shore up budgets that you have mismanaged. 

I suspect that part of the reason that Rachel Reeve is scared of making such commitments, is that she's seen how badly HS2 has been mismanaged and doesn't want scuh a cock up on her watch. This is misguided. WLO is a completely different beast. There is very little building required, apart from a few new stations. Some works to change track layouts and a major resignalling of the line will be needed. These will add beenfits for the existing freight channels as well as the new passenger service. There is also the cost of new trains. Unlike a brand new railway, all of these are very uch known quantities. 

In fact the only real unknown in the whole WLO process is what is going on in the brain of the Mayor and the Chancellor.I was foolish enough to believe local Labour politicians when they said that Labour would deliver such things. The Mayor seems to have no idea on how to bring London behind the scheme. Yesterday, the Evening Standard reported that the line would be renamed in line with other Overground lines. This has launched the usual deluge of 'anti woke' nonsense from right wing pundits on Twitter, who are more concerned about what the line is called thah whether it is actually built.  What they miss is that renaming the scheme now actually costs nothing as no signage and maps need replacing. A similar thing happened when they decided Crossrail would be called the Elizabeth line. It only costs money when the thing has been built and the maps and signage rolled out, but personally, I'd rather we didn't have announcements that make it a political football before its been delivered. 

A scheme that costs £6-700 million and delivers a billion pounds in benefits and revenues is a no brainer. If the scheme isn't underway with a set opening date by the time Sadiq Khan stands again for Mayor, then as far as I am concerned, his legacy will be one of demonstrable failure. Of all the thoughts that horrify me, the idea that in sixteen years I might still be writing blogs about how it should be built and what a no brianer it is. CAn you imagine, in 2039, a 30th anniversary blog of campaigning for a project that is a real no brainer?

Oh and just in case you wanted to know my suggestion for a name? I'd call it the Brent Line. This is because it goes from Brent Cross to Brentford, linking two ends of the river Brent. The fact that it seems to be managed rather like a project run by David Brent in the Office is purely a coincidence.

Why every decent person in Barnet should want Andrew Dismore to beat Brian Coleman in the GLA election next May

Next May there is an election for the GLA in London. This is the body which oversees and scrutinises the Mayor of London. In Barnet our representative is Councillor Brian Coleman. For belong to this body, Coleman gets paid over £50K per annum. Not a bad salary for a very part time job. As an elected official, Brian Coleman is supposed to represent and look after the interests of his constituents. One of the main functions of Mayor Boris Johnson and the GLA which oversee him is to have final say on planning and large scale developments in London. Due to the appalling housing crisis, previous Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone set a 50% target for social housing for any development where there were over 14 dwellings. This is necessary to ensure that key workers such as teachers, police, firemen, nurses, etc who don't earn enough to buy their own place in London can actually have somewhere to live. Needless to say that Boris Johnson has watered these targets down since taking over in 2008. As a result, there is an ever worsening housing crisis. In Barnet we are seeing huge developments going up all over the place, such as Brent Cross, Colindale, Mill Hill East to name a few. Whilst many people feel these schemes will blight the Borough of Barnet, Boris and his lackey Coleman are hell bent on thwarting every step to ensure that these developments are in any way suitable or affordable for low pay workers.

It is not just the loosening of targets for social housing. Developers have had no pressure to improve the public transport infrastructure or even ensure that we have enough school places. Recently a video by Councillor Daniel Thomas, a Barnet Conservative Cabinet member inadvertently revealed this failure.

Environmental campaigners have been lobbying for a new transport system, which would by and large use abandoned or lightly used rail lines, to form a new transport network in Barnet, linking the west and east of the Borough. Whilst the developers could be forced to pay for much of the work, Boris and Brian Coleman have zero interest. Coleman described the people pushing the scheme as "grown men playing with train sets". Whilst the scheme would provide a convenient and cheap way of getting around, allowing people who live in the new flats in Mill Hill East to get to work in Brent Cross or kids in Grahame Park to get to school in Mill Hill, the car obsessed Coleman has no care whatsoever, decreeing that his priority is "roads, roads, roads".

Perhaps the biggest indictment on Coleman was his comment his constituent Sharada Osman (who is a single mum in part time education with a son with special needs), when she asked for help and advice on her problems with accomodation.

I suggest  you will have to turn to the private sector for housing as there no way  there will ever be enough Council Houses available

As this blog exposed, earlier this week, Colemans council are very keen on Private Landlords. They recently passed a paper under delegated powers (ie no discussion in open council) to give £100,000 in incentives to private landlords in Barnet. No wonder Coleman is keen to send Sharada to his mates for a flat. This brings us to Andrew Dismore, his Labour rival for the GLA job. He used to be MP for Hendon. In this role, he didn't (unlike Coleman) have any direct responsibility for provision of council housing. What was his attitude?

I happen to know first hand that Andrew took a completely different view of single mums with special needs children who have problems with their housing. My former business partner died ten years ago. He'd sunk every penny he had into our business and when he was cruelly killed by pancreatic cancer, he left three children with little money in the bank. As his home was tied to his job as a caretaker, his wife found herself homeless and alone. She was put up by Barnet Council in temporary accomodation. It seems that in Barnet, being a widow with a special needs child doesn't give you enough points to actually get a council house. Her husband had worked as an ambulance driver and a bus driver for many years, prior to helping me set the studios up. Sadly this public service counts for nothing either. Three years ago my friends widow contacted me in a real state of stress. Barnet's Tory Council had contacted her and told her that they could no longer accomodate her. She would have to up sticks, pull her children (already traumatised by the loss of their father from a horrible death due to cancer) our of their schools and move to Norfolk. I advised her to contact her then MP, Andrew Dismore and see if he could help. Did he, like Brian Coleman, advise her to live in the real world? Of course he didn't. He went and saw the family, listened to their problems and contacted Barnet Council. Through his efforts, the problem was resolved and the family are still living in the Borough and the children are still with their friends at the schools they have grown up in.

Being a GLA member and a Councillor is a job that is what you make of it. I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that if Andrew Dismore replaces Brian Coleman, he will do the job to the best of his ability and make sure that people like my friends widow and Sharada Osman have somebody representing them who will work hard for their interests. They will not be fobbed off, they will be represented properly. Whatever you may or may not think of Andrew Dismore, nobody who knows Dismore and Coleman could possibly imagine that Dismore would ever treat people with the contempt that Coleman has shown the people who elected him and pay his wages.

Just to emphasise this point, let me tell you how I know this. As regular readers of this blog will know, I quit the Labour party in 2009 a becoming increasingly disenchanted with its policies. Before I quit, I sent Mr Dismore an email listing all of the reasons why I was disenchanted with Labour. As regular readers will know, I didn't pull my punches. Andrew Dismore responded by politely inviting me to his office to discuss my issues. I went and harangued him for half an hour. At no time was he rude or impolite. He couldn't persuade me to change my mind, but he certainly made a good case for what he'd done. As far as I'm concerned, the choice between Dismore and Coleman is a choice between a man of decency, hard work and concern for his constituents or a man of rudeness, arrogance and extreme laziness when it comes to looking after the interests of those constituents who most need it.

Brent Cross planning permission granted

By John Cox

Brent Cross Cricklewood was passed by Barnet Council tonight.

Pressure is now on Boris to reject it (unlikely!) and the Sec. of State to call it in.

Did several lobbying sets of leaflets to all councillors, and spoke to committee yesterday.

Several accepted that approval would mean no light rail ever through Brent Cross. Developer said today to the committee that "light-rail was still possible". (His speech lasted the twenty minutes allowed to the second. That's rehearsal for you.)

There were several mentions of light-rail today. It was agreed to add an informatory to the approval that "the light-rail people" would be consulted by the on-going transport working parties (three-letter acronyms that I have forgotten). 

We will fight to overturn approval entirely, but also start a damage limitation exercise so that ON-ROAD light-rail might be possible in the years ahead. Seven-and-a-half hours of committee meetings in two days!

Phew!

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John Cox is a campaigner against the Brent Cross redevelopment scheme and has been actively lobbying for the Brent Cross Light Rail Scheme.

Guest contributors are always welcome at Barnet Eye. Click on my profile and use the email link to send me your story.

Brent Cross Railway - The system of the Future

As some of you may know, this blog strongly supports the proposal for the Brent Cross Railway (BCR). This is a tram system that will link up the Boroughs of Barnet and Brent with a hub at Brent Cross. Much of the route for this is under used and disused rail lines. The proposal would link up the High Barnet and the Edgware branches of the Northern Line, massively reduce traffic around the new Brent Cross development and offer a quicker, greener and more efficient way to get to work for thousands of commuters and school children. The London Borough of Brent strongly supports the scheme. Unfortunately the London Borough of Barnet doesn't.

Barnet likes to pride itself on being a "pro car" administration, with it's various policies such as road hump removal. Opposing the BCR proposal is another feather in the cap of the pro car lobby. Now I've never really understood the concept of "pro car" and "pro rail" lobbies (other than the vested interests of the companies servicing each industry). I'm in the "pro getting from A to B lobby". This means sometimes we have to build unpopular roads (most big roads are unpopular), sometimes we have to build railways and sometimes we have to spend lots of cash.

The Brent Cross scheme is a simple and relatively cheap scheme. Knowing that this blog has championed it, I received an email suggesting to me that the scheme is fundamentally flawed and that the costs could be slashed, whilst maintaining the service levels and improving the green credentials. Whilst my engineering credentials are soundly in the music engineering camp, I certainly can see the logic in what is being suggested.

One of the major costs in the proposed scheme is the electrification of the route, to power the trams. It has been suggested that this is expensive, outdated technology. The fuel of the future is Hydrogen Cell. If the trams were powered by hydrogen cell technology, then miles of copper wiring wouldn't be needed. Major power installations could be scrapped. It is also suggested that some of the route could be used for dual purpose vehicles, half bus/half trams. These could branch off and add even more destinations than the existing scheme could offer. This would negate the need to lay new tracks in some areas. It has been suggested that new road signalling technology be deployed, to clear the roadways for these vehicles. It has been suggested that these lanes could be signalled bus lanes, ie cars can use them until the bus comes, then they move over. There is nothing more frustrating than being stuck in traffic, next to an empty bus lane.

Now I've no idea if this technology really will work. I don't know if rail/road vehicles are feasible. I don't know if signal controlled bus lanes are feasible. What I do know is that for gridlocked cities such as London they deserve serious research and consideration. It can't be right that the North Circular is gridlocked every day whilst a few hundred yards away, there is a railway used by 12 trains a day, in the bits which haven't been abandoned. It certainly deserves a more serious analysis than Brian Coleman's "men in lofts with trainsets" quip.

Barnet Property Prices set to plummet due to Council Policy

Are you considering moving to Barnet? Are you considering moving away from Barnet? Are you not considering moving at all, but you own your own flat or house? Well if you fall into any of these categories, you really should read this blog and consider some of the points raised. There is an old saying about the three most important factors which affect the price of a house. Location, Location, Location. People will spend more money on a house if the house is in a nice area. If it's not, then they will pay far less for the same house. What makes a "nice area" :-

* Good Schools
* Good Transport Links
* Pleasant Street Scene
* Good local amenities
* Low Crime

If you have all of the above, you live in an area where the prices are most likely to be higher than neighbouring areas where this is not the case. How are Barnet Council doing in these five important areas?

Good Schools - Barnet have historically had great schools. The achievements of our best schools such as QE Boys, Henrietta Barnet and St Michaels are recognised across the country with all these schools regularly appearing at or near the top of the league tables. That is one of the main reasons that property prices in Barnet are amongst the highest in London. The trouble is that since Mike Freer took over the Council, the wheels have started to come of the school bus. There are several examples of this which have been picked up by the press. Deansbrook School will lose it's state of the art Computer suite, to accomodate another class. This is an example of the council actually spending money to MAKE A SCHOOL WORSE. The parents are up in arms. At least the children in this school will have a proper classroom. Three other Schools have placed emergency orders for PORTACABINS to accomodate the pupils starting next term. Would you move your family to an area where your kids go to school in a Portacabin? This can only have a negative effect on property prices.

Good Transport Links - The planners at Barnet want to accomodate another 80,000 people in the Borough in the next few years. There are huge developments all over the Borough, most notably at Mill Hill East, Colindale and Brent Cross. There are no planned major improvements to public Transport in these areas. A figure of £400 million is mentioned in the plans. This sounds a lot, but it cost the Council £23 Million just to replace a couple of bridges in Aerodrome Road. Much of this £400 Million is for projects unrelated to the redevelopment, such as Thameslink improvements at Cricklewood. What we need are major infrastructure projects which will give people clean, cheap and convenient alternatives to the car for their regular journeys. The only mooted scheme, the Brent Cross Railway has been scathingly written off by the Council, even though this could mitigate the effects of much of this traffic in all of these areas. That can only mean one thing - even more traffic jams. When people get sick of this, they move. When people move out, property prices drop.

Pleasant Street Scene - Am I the only person to notice how ugly the Council are making Barnet. In Mill Hill, the rather attractive flowerbeds now have ugly council sponsored advertisements for estate agents. Lamp posts have oval signs plugging obscure messages, designed solely to distract drivers from the road in front and to run people over. Nice shops and family businesses have deserted many high Streets to be replaced by bookies and fast food outlets which generate litter, smell and noise. A trip down Mill Hill Broadway on a Saturday evening used to be a pleasant affair. All we see now is litter and drunken yobs prowling. These sort of changes drive property prices down, once people start to notice.

Good Local Amenities - In Barnet Council Watch blog today, there is an expose on the policy of the council towards playing fields - sell 'em off is their clarion cry. There has been an ongoing campaign to get the council to reopen the Pavillion Road playing fields in Burnt Oak. What has happened? Nothing. My son plays football for Watling Club. Last season many matches were abandoned because the council, despite receiving fees for the football pitches, didn't maintain them during the wet weather. At a Hendon Residents forum meeting, I raised this point. Tory Councillor Hugh Rayner stood up and said "I often visit Burnt Oak Leisure ceentre and the facilities are fine". I responded "Do you ever go round the back and check on the football pitches" Councillor Rayner rather sheepishly responded "No".
If kids don't have positive outlets for their energy, they'll soon find negative ones. What will happen then to the value of the housing stock as gangs roam and drug use spirals up? Which brings us nicely on to

Low Crime - Barnet is historically quite a low crime area, where people of all races, creeds and colours get on. Barnet has the largest Jewish Community in the UK. How do they feel - here's a quote from a rather prominent Jewish commentator :-

due to the worrying rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in England, many Jews no longer feel safe

You may be relieved to know that the author of this comment doesn't live in Barnet. You'd probably be less relieved to know that he used to. In fact, up until May, he was a Councillor in Barnet. The author of this comment is ex Tory Barnet Councillor Richard F Weider. If people such as him, someone who was in a position to do something about it don't feel safe, what on earth is going on. There are many elderly and vulnerable Jewish People in Sheltered accomodation. The Jewish Chronicle has reported that they feel exposed to risk by the proposal to get rid of wardens. Barnet Council didn't even bother to do a proper risk assessment for this decision. They haven't considered the safety of those they have a duty of care to. No wonder people such as Richard Weider have no wish to grow old in Barnet. If Barnet's Jewish community decide to follow the lead of one of their most high profile local politicians and leave en mass, what will this do to the price of Barnet property.

I'm not writing this blog to scaremonger or try and force property prices down. I'm writing it to try and shake the citizens of London's finest Borough out of their torpor. All of the above issues could be combatted by an honest, brave and well lead council. If they were a bit more concerned with proper long term planning and a bit less concerned with getting free hospitality and huge allowances, maybe I'd not have to write this sort of blog.

If they don't get up off their rotund posteriors and start sorting these problems out, we may well find that Richard Weider was the most sensible of the lot of them and the rest of us are left in a ghetto of negative equity. Unlike some people, I'm not prepared to sit back and say nothing, if they want to ruin my town and destroy the value of my house, they'll have a fight on their hands.

Brian Coleman - Arrogant, lazy and useless

I started work on this blog before I read the report on the Tomb tax in the Edgware Times (Click HERE to see). As is often the way, I start counting the cannonballs and a new delivery arrives. Well on to the newest information first. Brian Coleman receives £85,000 per annum from the taxpayer in the form of allowances for his roles as a Barnet Councillor/Cabinet member and as our local GLA member (Barnet and Camden). So what does he do for his £85,000?

Well in Barnet he seems to have responsibility for the part of the Council Budget which decides how much we pay to bury dead babies. His job should be to oversee the construction of the budget and make sure that the people of Barnet are protected from poor decisions made by Council Officers. It seems that they proposed a 10% hike (3 times the rate of inflation) in burial costs for children under 3. At the same time the costs of weddings and Civil Partnerships were frozen. Now most people I know plan their weddings. They save up for them and make sure they can afford them. I've got a friend who's baby died from Cot death. Unlike a wedding, a childs death is an awful experience. It is not planned for and not budgeted for. It is the most horrible thing I can imagine. If it were down to me, I'd make child burials free. Fortunately it is rather rare in Barnet. When it was pointed out to Brian Coleman that this horrendous rise had been inserted into the budget, he said council officers had failed to alert him to the proposal and that he will now consider what the increase will be.

"I think the answer will probably be an inflation-linked charge" he added.

Well I'm sorry Brian, but this response isn't good enough. You get paid a good wage, you shouldn't rely on officials to tell you. It is pure laziness. You should be there, going through the budget with a fine tooth comb. Let me remind you that you are a Tory. You should be going through the budget, looking for savings. If something looks excessive, get down on the shop floor and find out why. THAT IS YOUR JOB. There really is no excuse.

************ please note that this blog has been amended. I have been informed that Brian Coleman did attend the TFL seminar on Cross River Tram on 9th September despite not being listed as an attendee in the TFL brochure, therefore I have removed my criticism of Coleman for not attending the seminar. I would suggest that he asks for the report to be amended to show his attendance to avoid further confusion. Apologies to Brian Coleman for this error ***********

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Colemans response to the BCR proposal was arrogant. It seems that he can add Lazy and Useless to the list of failings. Maybe by the end of the year, we'll have a complete A-Z of what's wrong with Brian Coleman. At this rate, it may be much much sooner

Brian Coleman : What's in his attic?

Before we discuss the latest pearls of wisdom to spout from the gushing mouth of Brian Coleman, let me take you on a little deviation. Let's face it, up here in Barnet we seem to be partial to a little deviation now and then.

Our deviation takes us back to 1966. That fine year when England won the world cup. The summer was hot, the grass was green and the roses were red. A very sad thing happened. In the flat next door to our house, the nice old lady Mrs Bent (yes really) had a heart attack and died. She was a lovely old dear who had a garden full of finely maintained Standard Roses. I can remember being very upset as she disappeared and the flat was sold. A few weeks later, mum told me some exciting news. The flat had been sold and a young mum was moving in who had a little boy. I'd have a little friend next door. A couple of weeks later, through the fence I saw the new neighbour. He was about two years old. To this day, I recall our first conversation. "Hello, I'm Roger, whats your name". He looked up in a slightly perplexed manner and exclaimed "Chair".

Now Chair is probably my oldest friend. He lives in Brighton now, has just had a kid so I don't see him too often. His job? He designs tram systems. He's worked on the LA Metro, The Dublin Metro, Croydon Tramlink and most recently Cross River Tram. He's a real character. Last time we met, he told me about a presentation he'd given about the Cross River Tram. He started it by saying. "In a city like London their is really only one method of transport I would consider as practical. This" He then displayed the slide showing his black and gold Norton commando Motorbike. He then said "the next best option however ...." and proceeded with his pitch. He's lectured on public transportation systems and given countless seminars. Now I'm not too interested in these matters generally, but it's always a pleasure to talk to someone who is on top of their game and can give you meaningful explanations as to why a solution would work in a city you love. As a result of our last conversation, I realised that the cheapest, quickest to impliment and most flexible solution to many of Londons transport problems is to put in tram systems. Now I'm not an expert, but I'm an engineer and I can see when a solution makes sense.

Anyway that's enough deviation for one day. What has this got to do with Barnet's favourite numpty? Well he was quoted in the Edgware Times as saying about the proposed "Brent Cross Railway" scheme.

Brian Coleman, GLA Member for Barnet and Camden condemned the plan as "bonkers". He said "It's not feasible, it won't happen. The developers aren't backing it and neither is any mainstream politician. Idea's like this are thought up by men who probably still have a train set in their attic. Trams are yesterdays news and they do not belong in Barnet. The whole thing is bonkers"

Like most of Brian Coleman's pronouncements, it is ignorant and rude. Lets have a look at what he says in detail. Firstly developers will always be against anything that dents their profits. The job of people like Coleman is to get some payback from them. Improved public transport would be a good start. Does Mr Coleman honestly think developers give a stuff about whats good for Barnet? If he does he's more stupid than we all thought. As to no mainstream politician supporting it, the Times said in it's on line article that Tory John Hart, a long standing councillor and a colleague of Colemans was supporting it. I know who I'd trust out of the two? Geoff Cooke, a well respected Labour member is also championing the scheme. David Cameron was quoted in todays Guardian as saying "To deliver a low carbon economy you have to have a vision". It seems Mr Coleman is even out of step with his own leader, as the BCR scheme will save millions of tons of CO2. The implication of Coleman's statement about the people who devise tram scheme's having "train sets in their attic" conjures images of socially inept nerds with no interest in anything other than mad schemes to bring back steam engines. Well as I mentioned above, my very oldest friend is one of the countries top tram system designers. When we last went for a beer (or six) what did we discuss? My kids, his impending fatherhood, Motorhead, punk rock, the Acid House dance scene, the french resistance in WW2, great pubs, the merits of Ken Vs Boris, Mill Hill, what we did when we were kids, his Norton Commando bike. It was one of my best evenings out for a long time. When it comes to things in attics, what has Coleman got in his?

Are Trams yesterdays news? Well technically I suppose they are. Boris Johnson opened a new station on the DLR in a huge blaze of glory and issued a fine press release. He didn't seem to be saying that the DLR was a thing of the past. I have drawn the conclusion that Coleman is incapable of a single forward looking thought. His solution to Barnet's transport problem is to open all the ratruns to speeding traffic. By his own admission, his views are driven by developers, who are only interested in lining their own pockets.

Unlike Brian Coleman we don't all have a cab waiting for us at the public expense to shuttle us around. The trouble with these freeloaders such as Coleman is that they have lost touch with normal working people who have to go to work in rush hour.

Trams for Barnet - Sense at last !!!!

There is an intriguing article on the Edgware Times website today (click target="_blank"> HERE to see). The plans are fleshed out in greater detail on the Campaign for Better Transport website and http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/london_local_group.

One of my biggest objections to the various regeneration schemes in Barnet is the lack of infrastructure. Looking at these plans, it seems that maybe, at last, a bit of thought is being put into addressing some of these issues. What is interesting about these plans is just how much of the scheme is utilising, disused or underused existing railways. One of my biggest bugbears is just how difficult it is to get across the borough, East to West. Since the demise of Edgware general, people wuch as my aunt who lives in Mill Hill, have a nightmare journey to get to Barnet Hospital. This scheme, if fully implemented would make this journey far easier, with a connection from Mill Hill Copthall to Finchley Central, then a tube trip to Barnet. Linking the two branches of the Northern Line (Colindale to Finchley Central) is a masterstroke. It is also worth noting that it makes many school trips far more practical using public transport. This scheme is good for the environment, good for the travelling public and good for Barnet businesses. As such I fully support it.

The new line has links to Finchley Central in the North, Wembley stadium, Brent Cross, Brent Park retail,and West London for connections to Heathrow. I'd imagine that for many workers it would offer a quicker and easier journey than the current clogged A41 to Brent Cross. I'd also like to see a station for the RAF Museum at Hendon. It is scandalous that this hasn't got a proper transport link. Less car journeys will be required across the borough, so motorists should see benefits as well.

There is much talk about the need for Infrastructure projects to kick start the economy. This is one I'd give a wholehearted thumbs up to. It is no surprise that sensible Councillors who have a long standing association with Barnet such as Conservative John Hart and Labour Geoff Cooke are championing the scheme. I sincerely hope that the full council follows the bipartisan approach that these two fine councillors are showing and throw their full weight behind the scheme. This may even be a scheme that causes the rest of London to take note and admire our foresight.