Leaders speak on transport

11:17am Thursday 27th April 2006

There is little doubt that, given the right area and the right circumstances, there is a place for the tram within the public transport structure.

With the proposed West London Tram, however, you have a clear example of a good idea in the wrong place.

Ken Livingstone is so keen to be able to say that he introduced the tram in London, he is ignoring not only public opinion but plain common sense.

It is only relatively recently that it has been realised that the scheme includes a test track across the Minet Country Park, six electricity sub stations in Uxbridge St Andrews Roundabout Uxbridge, Coney Green Hillingdon Hill, Newport Road Hayes, Coldharbour Road Hayes and the Ossie Garvin Roundabout. As well as this there will be a requirement for 11 temporary construction compounds one strategic (likely to last the whole construction period of four years) at Springfield Road Hayes and ten local compounds required for a year or less.

What is achieved for all this disruption? A transport scheme that will take up 40 per cent of road capacity and will accommodate 11 per cent of the passengers currently travelling by other means. Now it may well be that the other 29 per cent will buy a bicycle and I have no doubt to encourage this Ken would propose some form of congestion charge for private cars travelling along the Uxbridge Road.

If the whole 11 per cent passenger capacity is taken up on the tram it will run at a loss.

The current bus route along the Uxbridge Road operates faster than the tram (given the success of bus lanes in this respect) so it is proposed that the tram will stop less often than originally proposed.

If a bus breaks down on the Uxbridge Road it causes a problem. If a tram were to breakdown it would cause chaos.

Residential roads adjacent to the Uxbridge Road would become rat runs for people still wishing or needing to travel by car.

In Hillingdon the Labour Group support the tram proposals (Ken is now back in the Labour Party) and they are more or less obliged to tow the party line.

The majority of residents who took part in the public consultation objected to the proposals but their voices count for nothing.

When confronted by an elephant it is as well to recognise what is before you. Ken may be a showman and aspire as a good circus ringmaster, but the majority of people will recognise this tram proposal as the elephant that it really is and Ken as the clown that he always has been.

Ray Puddifoot, Conservative.

The Green Party is working to expand integrated public transport not only in the borough, but throughout the UK. Making public transport reliable, affordable and convenient is the best way of persuading people to use it instead of large number of private car journeys. This will cut down on pollution, noise and the very large number of motor vehicle accidents involving death or serious injury on our roads. Public transport is much safer per passenger mile, not just for car occupants but also for pedestrians. The proposed tram link will contribute a major reduction in the congestion on our roads.

Only the Green Party has policies which will stabilise, let alone reduce, volumes of traffic. Our transport strategy includes much more encouragement of cycling and walking (eg safe routes to school), better public transport (eg more bus lanes, lower fares, better access for disabled people), car-sharing clubs, etc.

The Green Party supports the tram, because 4 to 8 million car trips per anum will be transferred to public transport. However, we have pressed Transport for London on key issues particularly early introduction of measures to minimise traffic on residential streets.

There are still some problems with details of the proposed route. Darren Johnson AM, one of the Green Party Members of the Greater London Assembly has been pressing Transport for London to resolve these matters.

In the same way as when the Croydon Tram System was introduced there will be problems during the construction phase of the tram link, however once completed the benefits will be clear for all to see. The Green Party will be working to try and get the disruption time kept to the minimum. Let us hope that it does not take as long per square metre as the cycle lane through West Ruislip and Ickenham.

Graham Lee, Green Party.

The West London Tram (WLT) proposal has become an emotive and divisive issue, but it should never have been like this. We all saw the projected increase in traffic numbers over the next 5-10 years. Figures that told us that soon, the stretch from Uxbridge to Hayes will, like the stretch from Ealing to Shepherds Bush, be permanently congested. Those of you familiar with that route will have seen, first hand, what happens to local businesses when sheer volume of traffic runs out of space to park safely and with minimum inconvenience to local residents.

Along the pavements of once thriving shopping areas, boarded up fronts are becoming commonplace; not because of a tram line that hasn't been built yet, but because a coherent solution to this problem is yet to be put in place. I don't want my local shops to go the same way.

If we don't work now to stop our roads from being choked, then we will be choked by the air we breathe. Coupled with the dramatic rises in global oil prices, all this means that we cannot afford to go on like this.

For these reasons, if you trust us to run Hillingdon, we will work for what all of us all want and need. A transport policy that allows us to leave our cars at home. We will lobby for more bus routes and cleaner buses. We will work with the police to make buses safer. We will do everything we can to extend and improve the cycling network. We will work to deliver a parking policy that is safe and fair. We will work to allow every child a safer and healthier route to school.

Furthermore, if the other parties genuinely care about our local environment and our local economy, we will work with them to achieve this.

Mike Usher, Labour.

The Liberal Democrats are in favour of improved public transport and believe that a tram service along the Uxbridge Road may well provide a valuable addition to improving public transport in the borough.

That said the scheme being proposed by Transport for London (TfL) for the West London Tram does not make sense.

The Liberal Democrat Councillors on Hillingdon Council have supported the principle of the tram but have consistently argued for major changes to the route and other aspects of the proposed scheme.Firstly, we believe that only by linking the route to Hayes and Harlington station will Hillingdon gain the full economic and social benefits of the tram. It is a nonsense for TfL to talk about integrated transport and fail to link the tram to the developing transport hub at Hayes and Harlington and the new rail services like the Heathrow Express, Crossrail etc.

Secondly, the tram must not be introduced at the expense of local bus services. Many local routes now cater for those living off the main Uxbridge Road and the tram cannot compensate for these local services.

Thirdly, there are a wealth of technical issues that need to be resolved including junction layouts along the Uxbridge Road in Hillingdon. TfL has been quite cavalier in its dealings with the council's technical staff on many of these highway and planning issues. Their dealings with elected councillors have been no better. The tram cannot be forced on local communities without proper and meaningful consultation. Local people know the local issues and need to be listened to.

The Liberal Democrats' fourth area of concern is that the problems of the existing route through neighbouring Ealing need to be addressed.

In the council we have supported the option of working with TfL on the parliamentary bill that is needed to approve the scheme. This gave officers and councillors time to discuss the borough's concerns.

However, once it became clear that TfL were determined to bulldoze their scheme through and ignore local concerns we voted to enable the council to become an objector to the bill and fight for local improvements during the bill's parliamentary progress.

Steve Carey, Liberal Democrats.