Author Archives: Caroline Pidgeon

London Liberal Democrats – helping those with the smallest pockets get to work

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 17th January 2012 - 2:52 pm

Last week Brian Paddick and I launched a fairer fares package ahead of this year’s London Mayoral and Assembly elections.

Boris Johnson has been Mayor of London since 2008. In just four years he has increased the cheapest bus fare from 90p to £1.35 – and he had planned to raise fares even further until the Coalition Government stepped in and helped limit the rise. As well as bus fares, the cost of travelling on the Tube, the Docklands Light Railway, the Croydon Tramlink and the London Overground have all soared under Mr Johnson’s mayoralty.

Of course there …

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Posted in London, News | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Conservative walk-outs stop debate

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 10th September 2010 - 12:21 pm

Storming out of a town hall or Assembly chamber in protest is not something I would generally recommend – although in extreme cases there is a case for doing so as I found out earlier this year.

However walking out and knowing that you will stop all business is a very different matter, yet this is what is now taking place at City Hall on a very regular basis. In the last year there have been several occasions when the whole Conservative Group has just got up and left halfway through meetings of the London Assembly, when they don’t agree …

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Posted in Local government, London | 9 Comments

Peddling myths over London’s bike hire scheme

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 14th August 2010 - 11:50 am

In London one of the most exciting developments this year has been the long awaited launch of the bike hire scheme.

Despite its launch being associated with quite a number of problems – including a highly complex registration process, and a number of cyclists being overcharged – no one can deny that the scheme is proving incredibly popular.  And let’s be realistic, no major scheme ever starts without at least some minor teething problems. Of course I will be chasing hard until these glitches are resolved, and they certainly …

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Posted in Local government, London | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Opinion: Countdown to 2012 has already started

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 20th May 2010 - 12:20 pm

Harold Wilson’s phrase that a week is a long time in politics was never more true than the dramatic developments that took place last week.

The creation of a new Government, with Liberal Democrats at the heart of it and with so many of our policies built into the coalition agreement, has quite rightly dominated the media. I am sure these events will not easily be forgotten by many Liberal Democrats.

Against such as background it is far from surprising that changes that have taken place in town halls across London and at City Hall have not received a huge amount of …

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Posted in Local government, London, Op-eds | Tagged | 1 Comment

How long can Boris Johnson carry on defending the indefensible?

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 27th March 2010 - 10:20 am

Caroline Pidgeon is a Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member and member of the London Fire Emergency and Planning Authority (LFEPA)

Walking out of a meeting as a protest is something I would not normally recommend, but last week I felt had no other option and left a key budget meeting of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA). Both the Lib Dem leader on the Fire Authority, Councillor Ed Butcher from Haringey, and I knew we had to make a protest at the decision of the Conservative Chair Brian Coleman to prohibit TV cameras from filming the meeting, and Coleman’s decision to …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The grit in the Oyster

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 27th February 2010 - 12:50 pm

London Assembly member Caroline Pidgeon sets out how the Mayor of London’s approach to problems with the London Oyster travelcard is a demonstration of Boris Johnsons wider approach to addressing issues that face Londoners:

This week at City Hall I was accused by Boris Johnson of being a “negative Liberal Democrat” when I dared to question him over some of the problems that have happened as a result of the extension of Oyster Pay as You Go to national rail services across London.

Well I stand by my questioning of the Mayor as there is no …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

London Underground: should lines be completely shut to speed up engineering work?

By Caroline Pidgeon | Published 18th July 2009 - 4:47 pm

The London Underground is used by as many people each week as the total number of people who use the nation’s railway network. Caroline Pidgeon sets out why modernising the underground is so important and why new ways of undertaking the upgrades might now be necessary.

At London’s City Hall I’m leading an Assembly investigation into overcrowding on the Tube and what Mayor Boris Johnson can do about it. For many years now Tube passengers have been used to cramming themselves into crowded trains wedged against someone’s armpits. More recently stations like Victoria, King’s Cross, London Bridge and Holborn have had …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments