Mayor wants London employers to make childcare more accessible January 25, 2017 London mayor Sadiq Khan has urged employers to help parents "locked out of the workplace" due to rising childcare costs. He said more should follow the example of the Greater London Authority, which has just introduced a new childcare deposit loan across all organisations within it. All parents in the GLA group, spanning TfL, the [...]
Tube drivers will stage a 24-hour strike on the Central and Waterloo & City lines from 9pm tonight January 25, 2017 Tube drivers on Central Line East will start a 24-hour strike from 9pm tonight, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has announced. The union said the strike, also affecting the Waterloo & City Line, will finish at 20:59 on Thursday 26 January. RMT said the dispute is over the "forced displacement" of staff. Read more: [...]
We’re still paying tax on the Olympics – even though the debt has been paid off January 25, 2017 Londoners are still paying tax for hosting the Olympic Games, despite having paid off the debt for the sporting event. According to the Conservatives at City Hall, London mayor Sadiq Khan hasn't removed the Olympic precept from his first budget, and is using it to fund other projects. It was set up before the games [...]
Focus On Catford: A ‘ripple effect’ from Lewisham’s regeneration has caused price rises in nearby Catford, say agents January 24, 2017 With each great regeneration comes an even greater ripple effect, so sayeth London’s estate agents. And so it is in Lewisham, where new developments and major infrastructure investment have already made the surrounding areas of Deptford and New Cross appealing to first time buyers. But now it’s the turn of Catford, where the Borough Council’s [...]
Changes to agency contracts could push out temporary Transport for London workers January 24, 2017 Transport for London (TfL) is set for a backlash against its plans to stop using temporary workers who operate through limited companies. Critics have said the plan will deprive TfL of talent in key areas, with the potential to throw crucial engineering projects off track. TfL has contacted over 2,000 agency staff asking them to sign [...]
“The clock is ticking”: More strikes will hit the London Underground unless union dispute is resolved this week January 23, 2017 More Tube strikes loom, unless a resolution is reached between unions and London Underground by the end of this week. Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA), said: "The clock is ticking and we need an agreement by the end of this week or sadly, further strikes will follow." A 24-hour [...]
Severe delays strike South West Trains from London Waterloo via Wimbledon due to emergency engineering work January 23, 2017 Fog isn't the only thing causing misery on the transport system this morning: there's also disruption on the trains. Today South West Trains said services to and from London Waterloo via Wimbledon are expected to be disrupted until 12pm, thanks to emergency engineering work to repair a broken rail. Services may be cancelled, delayed or run non-stop between [...]
From electric streets to hydrogen vans: Here’s how six London neighbourhoods plan to improve air quality January 20, 2017 The mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have announced £1.4m in funding for six "neighbourhoods of the future" that will aim to tackle London's air quality troubles at a local level. The funding will be matched by £1.1m from the London boroughs involved and Heathrow airport, as the areas aim to combine green tech with [...]
Full steam ahead: Tunnelling for the £1.2bn Northern Line extension starts in March January 20, 2017 The first extension to the Tube network since the Jubilee line in the late '90s kicks off in March, as tunnelling gets underway to branch out the Northern line. Sadiq Khan has announced that tunnelling will get underway to create the £1.2bn extension of the line between Kennington and Battersea. Two 650-tonne boring machines (each the length [...]
Freezing Londoners’ travelcards would have cost City Hall £132m a year January 19, 2017 Expanding London Mayor Sadiq Khan's controversial fares freeze to include Londoners' travelcards would cost City Hall a total of £132m a year. Khan campaigned on the basis of freezing the capital's travel costs for four years, but it later emerged that this would affect only a limited selection of travel costs. Only single and pay-as-you-go fares are including [...]