Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Tram Could Put up council tax by £315

Press Release from Hammersmith & Fulham Council
Campaigners against the West London Tram have warned that the project could leave Londoners with a bill of £315 for every household in the capital. The figures were revealed on the eve of a major Tram Summit, organised by the three councils affected, to rally opposition against the scheme.

The summit will be held on Wednesday 24th January, at 7pm in Shepherd's Bush Library. This is the first time all three directly affected councils - Ealing, Hillingdon and Hammersmith & Fulham - have come together to discuss ways to fight the scheme.

The councils fear that the Tram will cause gridlock in West London, whilst leaving taxpayers with a construction bill of £1bn. This is because new build trams, like the one in Sheffield, have never been able to recover their capital costs.

The Tram is also unpopular; a survey conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of Transport for London showed a majority of residents opposed the scheme. 53% do not believe they would derive any benefit at all from the Tram.

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council, said,

"This tram will cause misery for commuters by effectively closing down Uxbridge Road. It is unpopular with residents and is likely to leave taxpayers massively out of pocket. We welcome investment in public transport but this scheme will only bring gridlock to our already congested roads."
Not that Ken Livingstone will care. Your income is nothing more than a resource for him to plunder.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If you look at the Lib Dem candidate, Brian Paddick's, manifesto, he proposes the same as Ken Livingstone. I hope you realize that our incomes are the main means of the government funding public projects - it's not a new concept. We pay for what we use. What else ae they spposed to do? That's how the system works.
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Priscilla