Bending the facts, not the buses

So, the day we have all been holding our collective breaths for arrives – at last, and after so many delays, the Mayor has revealed unto us grateful Londoners the design of bus that will might could probably won’t be gracing our streets sometime around the middle of the next decade.

A quick flick through the entries submitted for the design competition here reveals firstly that – surprise, surprise – all the entries appear remarkably similar looking: could that have anything to do with it being made patently clear that what was wanted was a Routemaster pastiche rather than an innovative new design (despite the fact that the latter would be more in keeping with the Routemaster tradition than simply ripping off an existing model)? Apparently the ‘quality’ of entries was such that they couldn’t decide on a single winner, so the first prize was split between this stunningly ugly Aston Martin/Lord Foster design and this rather traditional design from Capoco.

Hang on a moment though – doesn’t the Capoco design look rather familiar? Could it have any links to the design floated by the self-same design company through Autocar magazine in December 2007 as part of the ‘Routemasters are great, bendy buses are evil’ disinformation campaign

The Silvertown Link: the answer to no-one’s problems

Scrapped: the Thames Gateway Bridge

Last week The Animal posted on the unambitious, short-sighted and generally depressing pair of strategy documents that emerged from the Mayor of London and Transport for London on the future direction of London’s transport networks. Today, at the risk of appearing a touch parochial and exposing myself to accusations of a conflict of interest, I wanted to look at the approach being taken to the issue of river crossings in east London, which demonstrate quite clearly the lack of coherence and strategic thought in these documents.

It should have come as no surprise to anyone that Boris Johnson announced last week that the plans for a road bridge in the Thames Gateway linking Thamesmead and Beckton were being scrapped. In his manifesto, Johnson had said

I support in principle the need for an extra river crossing upstream from Tower Bridge to ease congestion and aid economic growth. However, any scheme will have to deal with the issues on both sides of the river in terms of traffic management, safeguarding the

The quest for housing apartheid – Part 3: Boris wades in

The Animal has discussed here before the fact that there is some pretty heavy-weight media backing for the continued ghettoisation of London’s housing supply, with a health dose of outrage being expressed at any attempts to provide a more mixed housing portfolio in the wealthiest areas of the city. Council housing in Kensington? Affordable rents in Fulham? Key worker housing in Hampstead? It’s all dangerous socialistic meddling in the free market, I tell you. Socialists! Reds! Run for the hills!

Now we’ve always known that Boris Johnson was a none-too-covert subscriber to this world view. I’m not suggesting he doesn’t wantsocial housing in London – he’s crossed the Cameron Rubicon in that respect – but he has real problems about where it is built. Scrapping the Livingstone aspiration for 50% of all new build housing to be socially affordable, regardless of location, loomed large in the Mayor’s election manifesto. And he has been as good as his word – last week, the 50% target’s death rites were read. Of course, the runes could be read well before then – appointing two leading former councillors from notoriously social housing-unfriendly Westminster to your team of ‘deputy mayors’,

Coal sacks and the city

Greenwich's semi-industrial skyline

Exemplary local blog The Greenwich Phantom (every borough needs a phantom…) has an interesting post about the place of industry in areas that are subject to rapid regeneration and gentrification, such as Greenwich. The Phantom’s post arises from rumours, as yet unconfirmed, that one of the few remaining factories on the Greenwich peninsula, which produces a range of odours for which the area has been, er, famous, could be about to close, inevitably to make way for riverside apartments, even if the current market conditions somewhat slows that process.

Living just seven miles from Charing Cross, the Animal encounters a surprising amount of heavy industry and its consequences: the aforementioned smells are a not infrequent accompaniment to my wait for the bus, twice a day the house vibrates slightly as a heavy trainload of aggregates tackles the incline from Angerstein Wharf and the walk to purchase hay for this blog’s mascots means braving the dust created by a quarry product recycling works. And for me, that’s all part of the gritty charm of the

What has Andrew Gilligan got against his own borough?

The Evening Standard’s star columnist isn’t happy. As a well-known expert on everything from policing to athletics and from Sinology to HR, Mr Gilligan was obviously quite entitled to expect that once his mate Boris was safely installed at City Hall that the Mayor would be taking his advice on a regular basis, but particularly on transport. He appears to be more than a little miffed that Mr Johnson for some unaccountable reason has chosen to listen to the advice of transport professionals, of all people, instead.

But four months in, marvels one senior TfL figure, “Boris’s arrival has made no difference whatever. It’s all going on exactly as before.” No programmes have (yet) been cancelled. No personnel changes have been made. Indeed, one senior TfL person has just been appointed, of all things, Boris’s environmental adviser.

An environmental adviser, of all things! The evil TfL bureaucrat in question, Isabel Dedring, had her qualifications scrutinised by the, er, Evening Standard, which found that:

Ms Dedring wrote the Climate Change Action Plan for the former mayor Ken Livingstone.