City Hall accused of ‘repeating mistakes’ of Garden Bridge scandal over £22m housing loan March 18, 2019 City Hall has been accused of repeating the mistakes of the Garden Bridge after it agreed to loan nearly £22m towards the development of a controversial housing site in south London. The Greater London Authority (GLA) has agreed to loan American property developer Anthology £21.8m to build homes at Woodlands and Masters house in Lambeth, despite [...]
Focus On Clapham: Commons, good schools and cosy gastropubs means families stay put in SW4 March 15, 2019 The appeal of living in Clapham is clear for all to see. It has great transport connections along the Northern Line and Clapham Junction – one of the most well-connected stations in the UK – , particularly for south London. It’s better value for money than its north-of-the-river counterparts. The 220-acre Clapham Common is all [...]
TfL boss Mike Brown ‘hid Crossrail testing issues’ from Sadiq Khan in weekly email update March 14, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) boss Mike Brown ordered references to the difficulties Crossrail was experiencing with dynamic testing to be removed from email updates sent to Sadiq Khan, it was revealed today. At a grilling by the London Assembly's transport committee, Howard Smith, operations director for TfL Rail and the Elizabeth Line, admitted he felt Crossrail ought [...]
Focus On Stratford: Around 30,000 new homes are planned for the east London Olympic hub by 2030 March 13, 2019 The 2012 Olympic Games may feel like they happened last century, but their legacy lives on in Stratford. Though it resides in Newham, one of the most deprived boroughs in the capital, the host neighbourhood of the Games has attracted a phenomenal amount of property investment in both commercial and residential sectors. There are currently [...]
TfL saw London Underground thefts rise 25 per cent in 2018 March 12, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) rail services account for almost half of all thefts on trains nationwide, according to data out this week. A total of 4,448 Tube thefts occurred in 2018, up 25 per cent on 2017's 3,500 incidents, while all TfL services together saw a 27 per cent rise to 4,877 thefts. Read more: Buying [...]
Tube delays: Commuters hit by signal failure on Jubilee Line March 12, 2019 Commuters faced severe delays on the Jubilee Line this morning after disruption threatened to play havoc with their journeys into work. Read more: Revealed: These are London's most stressful Tube stations A signal failure at Waterloo led to severe delays across the entire line this morning, with Transport for London (TfL) advising passengers that their [...]
Siemens commits to building Goole factory ‘whatever the Brexit outcome’ March 11, 2019 Industrial giant Siemens has confirmed its commitment to building a factory in Goole, east Yorkshire, despite jitters in the manufacturing sector over Brexit. Siemens' head of rolling stock William Wilson told City A.M. that the firm, which won a £1.5bn contract to build Transport for London's (TfL) new Piccadilly Line trains, is "committed to building our [...]
Natwest launches fingerprint payment trial for contactless card purchases March 11, 2019 Natwest will trial fingerprint payment technology to allow customers to make purchases worth more than £30 when using their contactless card. The trial, which will begin in the next few weeks, will allow shoppers to verify payments above the £30 contactless limit using their fingerprint rather than having to enter their Pin number. Read more: [...]
Advertising industry group hits back in row over junk food ad bans March 7, 2019 Restrictions on junk food adverts have a huge economic impact and fail to address the problem of childhood obesity, the advertising industry body has said. In a report published today the Advertising Association (AA) states children’s exposure to adverts for products with high fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) contents has declined in recent years, yet [...]
Crossrail boss refuses to give railway opening date but ‘very much wants’ 2020 launch March 6, 2019 Crossrail's new chief executive has refused to confirm any date for when the railway will open, saying only that the company "very, very much wants to get this done in 2020". Addressing Westminster's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today, Mark Wild said Crossrail's next update, due in April, would provide a "window" of opening dates rather [...]