Today I met with Transport for London (TfL) to hold them to account over a number of recent worrying developments locally.
I recently spoke in Parliament about how poorly connected Carshalton and Wallington is, but TfL have sadly chosen to stop the Go Sutton bus trial and are not recommending the Sutton Link, which would extend the tram from Colliers Wood to Sutton, as a project for funding.
Carshalton and Wallington can no longer cope without any additional transport investment and I made this point clear to TfL, including urging them to reconsider about the Go Sutton bus and the Tram.
During the meeting I also made the point that additional capacity will particularly be needed in Hackbridge as an area that is growing rapidly with the New Mill Quarter (NMQ) development, but also reiterated the points I made during my speech to Parliament recently.
The Mayor of London has failed to manage TfL's finances properly, which were in dire straights even before the Coronavirus pandemic, especially having let Crossrail's cost get out of control. Carshalton and Wallington residents do not deserve to be punished for his failure and a Lib Dem-run Council that is too weak to stand up to him, so I will continue championing transport issues in the area, and pushing for the investment that we need.
I have asked to meet TfL again soon to discuss progress on each of the points that we discussed.