This afternoon, I had the pleasure of a long chat with Chris Nicholson, the Lib Dem candidate for Streatham who has already pledged to get behind this campaign and offer what support and assistance he can.
He’s a very nice man with a wealth of political experience, and, proved happy to share that experience with me in the hopes that I can use some of his savvy to make this campaign a successful one.
We discussed at some length the idea of this campaign being politically affiliated - something I feel would be counterproductive. Somewhat surprisingly (to me anyway) he agreed with me. He expressed the view that while, as a politician, it’d be nice for him to be able to claim credit, in this case, the issue at hand is not at all controversial, and anyone with Streatham’s best interests in mind would be in favour of bringing the tube here. It’d be foolish to limit support to one side of the political fence.
In terms of options, he also said that he’d heard someone floating the idea in the past of extending one branch the Northern line from Kennington up this way. I’ve not had the chance to research this idea at all yet, but my initial feeling is that unless something were done to ease overcrowding on that line, it’d be unlikely to be achievable.
He noted that he, like many of us I am sure, hasn’t driven out to Gatwick during anything approaching peak hour for a long long time. As we all know, the A23 is more carpark than road a lot of the time.
Further, and perhaps more usefully, he’s given us contact details for various Streathamites who may be able to help our campaign, as well as some details of others in positions of authority that are likely to be willing to lend their support.
Finally, he provided me with a question from his party member, Caroline Pidgeon, to Mayor Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson’s answer is inconsistent with what I have read elsewhere (although what I have read elsewhere may not be reliable), so I’ll just quote the entire question an answer below without further comment. He also said he’d be willing to put relevant questions forward to Caroline to be asked if it was helpful - I fully expect to take advantage of that offer at some stage.
Underground to Streatham
Question No: 3025 / 2009
Caroline Pidgeon
Can you confirm whether London Underground is currently considering any proposals to extend the Tube system to Streatham and whether funding is available from the Government for any such proposal?
Answer by Boris Johnson
London Underground is not currently considering any proposals to extend the Tube system to Streatham. LU has undertaken preliminary work in the past to look at the feasibility of southern extensions to the network, including identifying some route options and looking at their technical development.
Of these, extending the Bakerloo line south from Elephant & Castle emerged as the option with the most potential.
A Bakerloo southern extension would allow the line to serve inner and outer southeast London, creating a new southeast to northwest strategic route through the Capital, serving areas with poor transport accessibility and freeing up National Rail capacity at London Bridge for other service improvements.
Given current funding constraints, we are not in a position to take forward the more detailed analysis required to progress an extension and our priority is to complete the renewal and upgrade works already planned on the Tube, including the upgrade of the Bakerloo line.
I am determined to secure the investment needed to improve Underground services for south Londoners when the Government decides on the level of the next funding package, which begins in 2017. Any construction of an extension to the Bakerloo Line would begin after 2020 at the earliest.
One wonders if perhaps there were more ivory towers in Streatham in which people worked before racing back to the Caribbean and other exotic locales, maybe priorities might be different.
Tomorrow, I’m off to meet Mr Chuka Umunna, the Labour candidate for Streatham to discuss his support and advice, something I’m looking forward a great deal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hang on, this doesnt seem to add up - on Chris Nicholsons website he mocks and rubbishes the idea of bringing the tube to Streatham. i quote: "the new Labour candidate is still promising he'll bring the Tube to Streatham!"
ReplyDeleteIm not supporting Chukka but at least give him credit for the tube thing, especially given all the coverage in the local paper – Ive voted LD in the past but put off by this sort of duplicitous behaviour: its gotta be the Tories all the way next year.
David, Streatham vale
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteI want to be really careful here to not take sides in any Lib Dem/Labour (or any other parties for that matter debate).
If you think one party will do more to further this cause than another, then I'd say it is most appropriate to vote for them. Our articles have been very carefully written to ensure that we mention any support the various politicians have/will provide - there's no benefit to this campaign in getting any of them off side.
That being said, we've made sure to present a summary of my meeting with Chris as accurately as possible. I just went and had a look at the relevant section of Chris's website, and, to quote the full passage:
"At the same time our area's been left behind. Way back in 1992, the current Labour MP was campaigning for the tube to come to Streatham. You'd think that after 12 years of Labour government and 8 years of a Labour Mayor of London, the Labour Party might have got around to extending the tube. But no - the new Labour candidate is still promising he'll bring the Tube to Streatham! Do you really believe that if Labour are re-elected they'll finally get round to it?"
Which is a pretty open criticism of both Keith and Chuka, to be fair to Chris, it is a statement borne of fact - there isn't a tube here yet. I don't see anything duplicitous in it - he's not criticising the idea, just the lack of implementation, which I'd say is precisely his function as a member of the opposition.
On the other hand, to be fair to Chuka and Keith, what we all want to see accomplished is an incredibly difficult task which is only likely to get the appropriate attention if it is at the forefront of the community agenda - there's always a lot going on and we need to make sure that they are constantly reminded that this is something that can't be pushed to the back burner. Remember it isn't just them that failed, but every politician (I'm assuming there's at least one from each major party) stretching back to about World War 1!
I'd like to see people voting for the candidate that does the most to further this cause in the run up to the election. I'd like to see the candidates competing to see who can do more! I'd like to see their campaigns (irrespective of the election outcome) bringing direct benefits to the community, as they occasionally do now - Chuka's recent attention to this issue, as you mention, is a fine example of that.
In the election following that, I'd like to see people voting for whoever did more to further this cause in the intervening period.
Side note: For those of you not up to speed on local politics, Chris Nicholson is the Lib Dem candidate for Streatham, Keith Hill is the outgoing Labour encumbent (he's retiring come this election), and Chuka Ummuna Labour's replacement for Keith who hopes to retain this seat for Labour.