Government housing targets under fire from UK watchdog February 8, 2019 The government’s method used to assess the number of homes needed to fix Britain’s housing crisis is "flawed", according to the UK's public spending watchdog. In a damning new report published today, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said that the government’s planning system “is underperforming and cannot demonstrate that it is meeting housing demand [...]
Westminster council victorious as court rejects TfL appeal over blocked CS11 cycle superhighway February 7, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) will not be able to build its proposed CS11 cycle superhighway at Swiss Cottage after it lost an appeal against a decision by Westminster council to block its construction last year. The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld an earlier ruling that TfL could not proceed with the CS11 without considering traffic and [...]
Commuters hit with severe morning delays on Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines February 7, 2019 Commuters continue to be severely disrupted by delays to the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines due to signalling problems. The Metropolitan Line was hit with severe delays this morning after a Tube driver went through a red light at Harrow-on-the-Hill forcing following trains to be stopped as a safety procedure. https://twitter.com/metline/status/1093451576574988288 Got held up at #Harrow On [...]
Sadiq Khan ‘falling short’ on housing after new home registrations fall by 10 per cent February 7, 2019 London mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of "falling short" on housing targets after it emerged that new home registrations in London dropped 10 per cent last year to just over 16,000. There were 16,069 new home registrations in 2018, down from 17,932 the year before, according to the National House Building Council (NHBC), a [...]
An end to gridlock? How artificial intelligence could help get London moving again February 4, 2019 London is a truly remarkable city – an economic powerhouse and a cultural destination without equal. It’s a magnet to millions, and rightly so. But it’s a terrible irony that this fast-moving, fast-living, fast-earning metropolis is stuck in traffic so much of the time. We simply cannot move. According to traffic data company INRIX, London [...]
Opinion: Sadiq Khan should be careful what he wishes for when it comes to rent controls in London February 1, 2019 The recent news that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is moving ahead with plans to impose rent controls on London’s housing market comes as no surprise. Khan’s been contemplating regulation for some time and it featured in his 2016 pre-election manifesto, but nearly three years later, we still haven’t actually seen a concrete policy. Khan [...]
City Hall and BBC under fire over stamp duty agreement for new Olympic Park studios January 29, 2019 City Hall has come under fire for agreeing to underwrite half of the stamp duty that could be levied on the BBC when it opens new studios in the £1.1bn Olympic Park development. Last summer the broadcaster announced it would build a brand new set of studios at the east London site by 2022/23, in concert [...]
London startup backed by the Mayor and National Grid launches embedded car charging points January 29, 2019 Connected Kerb has today launched its first series of electric car charging points fully embedded into the road's curbside. Built into Borough Road in Southwark, the launch was supported by Southwark Council, Virgin Media and National Grid. The move comes after the London startup won the Mayor's Award for Urban Innovation last year. Users of electric cars [...]
Gospel Oak to Barking line users to receive a month of free travel following train delays January 27, 2019 Users of the troubled Gospel Oak to Barking route will receive a month's worth of free travel after suffering sustained periods of disruption from the delayed introduction of new trains on the line. Software issues with manufacturer Bombardier have meant that a new fleet of Class 710 trains, which were due to be introduced last [...]
DEBATE: Should London impose rent restrictions, as suggested in Sadiq Khan’s campaign plans? January 25, 2019 Should London impose rent restrictions, as suggested in Sadiq Khan’s campaign plans? Dan Wilson Craw, director of Generation Rent, says YES. Londoners are paying some of the highest rents in the world. Building more homes will plug the shortage at the root of this, but that will take a decade or more. We need urgent action [...]