Tube station refurbishment

South London Press

News

Progress 'at snail's pace'

Aug 8 2003

I WAS interested to see your article on Tube station refurbishment (South London Press, August 1).

I am sure long-suffering Tube users like me will be amazed to see that the earliest we can expect to see any station improvements is 2005/2006. Most stations in Lambeth and Southwark won't be seeing any improvements until 2010!

As if this wasn't bad enough, passengers using Kennington and the Northern Line at Elephant & Castle have seen the finishing date for improvements to the ticket hall areas pushed further and further back with still no definite date set for opening.

And all this is before we see any investment in new trains or signalling improvements!

Is this really what the Labour Government had in mind when it forced its Public-Private Partnership (PPP) "rescue" plan for the Tube on to Londoners? Londoners, including Liberal Democrats, were right at the time to be cynical about what the PPP meant for London. Now we are beginning to see - cosmetic station improvements at a snail's pace.

Councillor Caroline Pidgeon
Liberal Democrat
Greater London Assembly spokesperson
Southwark & Lambeth

[ Previous | Next ]