Five days in to 2017, London exceeded its air pollution limit January 6, 2017 Finding the city smoggier than usual today? It's no wonder. Five days into the year, London has already broken air pollution limits set for the whole of 2017. Brixton Road is to blame. The road exceeded the hourly limit of 200 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide per cubic metre of air for the 19th time last night. Under EU pollution [...]
Here are the most highly-anticipated theatre shows hitting the West End in 2017 January 5, 2017 Hamilton Victoria Palace Theatre: November 2017 Theatrical events don’t come much bigger than Hamilton’s highly-anticipated arrival in London. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece charting the life of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States of America who died in a duel (historical spoiler!), racked up 11 Tony Awards and won the Pulitzer Prize [...]
Sadiq Khan launches a fresh plea for more control over London’s trains January 5, 2017 London mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a fresh appeal for control over the capital’s suburban trains. Khan has published a list of promises to Londoners if rail devolution goes ahead. In December, transport secretary Chris Grayling ruled out City Hall control of services, branding any handover “deckchair shifting”. However, Khan has reiterated his demands for [...]
Three contractors just won £500m from TfL to sort out London’s roads January 5, 2017 London drivers, brace yourselves for more roadworks: Transport for London has said it has signed a £500m deal with three of the UK's largest contractors to deliver "complex, large-scale civil engineering schemes" on the capital's roads. Costain, Morgan Sindall and Skanska will spend four years working on projects to improve journey reliability, encourage cycling and [...]
Treasury committee chair calls into question the government’s HS2 figures January 4, 2017 The reliability of the HS2 passenger demand figures have been called into question by the chairman of the treasury select committee. Andrew Tyrie, who has previously questioned the economic justification for HS2, has taken aim at government numbers in letter to transport secretary Chris Grayling. Read more: New franchise will combine HS2 with Inter City [...]
Middle Eastern investor buys up Sullivan & Cromwell’s European HQ January 4, 2017 A Middle Eastern investor has snapped up 1 New Fetter Lane, the European headquarters of international law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. UBS Triton Property Fund sold the Grade A property, which is located just south of Holborn Circus, for £69m. Sullivan & Cromwell recently agreed a new lease on the building which will end in 2026. Read [...]
The Square Mile wants a ban on all diesel minicabs by 2020 January 4, 2017 Leaders in the City are calling on the Mayor of London to ban diesel mincabs in the capital in a bid to reduce pollution. The City of London Corporation wants Sadiq Khan to ban all diesel vehicles used by companies such as Uber and Addison Lee by 2020. New licenses would not be given to [...]
Sadiq Khan’s fares “freeze” fails commuters – and will still hit Tube investment hard January 4, 2017 New Year's resolutions are like the mayor of London’s election promises – often made with good intentions but almost always broken a few months down the line. As we ring in 2017, commuters here in the capital will be seeing the cost of their travelcards go up by 1.9 per cent – the result of [...]
This study says Uber-style ride-sharing and carpooling could dramatically reduce city traffic January 3, 2017 London's roads – and the millions of people who travel on them – have reached an unprecedented gridlock. Congestion is estimated to be costing businesses in the capital £237m every year, while Londoners are wasting a week each year, on average, stuck in traffic jams – not to mention the impact on people's health of high [...]
Labour and the Conservatives can’t stop blaming each other for rising train fares January 3, 2017 London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan and Conservative politicians are blaming each other for the rising cost of rail travel this morning. Commuters returning to work this week are set to see their train fares rise by an average of 2.3 per cent. And both sides of the political spectrum have gone on the attack this [...]