Open letter to the chancellor: Don’t cut London transport
This week’s Spending Review will require the chancellor to make difficult decisions. Cutting investment in transport in London would be a very false economy. With a population growing by 100,000 a year, continued investment is needed to keep not just Londoners but the Treasury’s tax take from the capital moving.
Parts of the Underground need urgent attention, as demand on already congested services is rising by 5 per cent a year and over-crowding so severe at some stations – such as Oxford Circus – that they are often forced to close their gates to passengers.
Much can be done: new signalling, track and trains on the over-crowded Piccadilly line would increase capacity by 60 per cent. Additional trains are needed on the Northern and Jubilee lines – now possible thanks to the success of previous signalling upgrades. And new bus links and upgrades to the Docklands Light Railway would help make space for passengers and serve new housing developments as the city expands to the east.
If London is to remain one of the world’s greatest cities to live and work, and to continue to generate substantial tax revenues for the Treasury, it needs a transport system that sustains its growth.
David Leam, infrastructure director, London First
Robert Elliott, chairman and senior partner, Linklaters
Inderneel Singh, managing director, Edwardian Hotels (incorporating Radisson Blu and May Fair brands)
Stephen Howlett, chief executive, Peabody
Michael Arthur, president and provost, UCL
Karen Shaw, director of research and enterprise, City University
Simon Baynham, property director, Howard de Walden Estates
Stephen Ashworth, partner, Dentons
Robbie Owen, head of infrastructure planning and government affairs, Pinsent Masons
Bill Moore CBE, chief executive, The Portman Estate
Robert Gordon Clark, executive chairman, London Communications Agency
James Turgoose, director of London, JBP
Nick Jopling, executive property director, Grainger plc
Reena Patel, partner, Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co
John Rhodes OBE, director, Quod
Bob Rothenberg, senior partner, Blick Rothenberg
Chris Osborne, chairman, FTI Consulting
Bob Weston, chairman, Weston Homes
Tim Hancock, managing director, Terence O'Rourke
Laurence M Ronson, founder, Ronson Capital Partners
Richard Patient, managing director, Thorncliffe
Karen Cooksley, partner, Winckworth Sherwood
Paul Williams, director, asset management, Derwent London
Michael Lowndes, executive director, Turley
Peter Vernon, chief executive, Grosvenor
Ciaran Bird, UK managing director, CBRE
William GS Jackson, chair, Central London Development, Cushman & Wakefield