The view from the top floor balcony at City Hall
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today firmly stated that; “never as long as I am Mayor will there be any extension to Congestion Charging in London”.
I’m aware of this because today I was at the Mayor’s Question Time. And I was very pleased to hear this, having been caught out by the congestion charging zones enough times as it is.
Boris brought this issue up after the “drivel that appeared in the Evening Standard yesterday”. He even looked across at Ken Livingstone (who was sitting in the front row of the public gallery) with a smile on his face saying that this news story had actually filled him with sympathy for the previous administration.
The Evening Standard had written an article claiming that Boris had plans to charge cars for entering some of the busiest areas in around London including Croydon and Greenwich. The Mayor however rubbished these claims today saying that no more congestion charging or road pricing would be unleashed on Londoners whilst he was still in office.
I was at the assembly because I was writing an article about a question posed by Conservative Assembly Member Andrew Boff, who was extremely generous with his time and gave a lengthy interview to a colleague and me after the assembly about an issue he’d raised. To see what happened with the please click here.
Mr Boff even gave the two of us a little tour of City Hall, taking us up to the high security area on the top floor and onto this balcony which had some spectacular views of London. I will post a few pictures of the view below once I’ve worked out how to use photo shop.
All in all, after an incredibly engaging couple of hours watching The Mayor’s Question Time (which I will definitely be attending again in future months), and being both thoroughly entertained and impressed by our Mayor Boris Johnson (who used the word “nonsense” countless times in his usual enigmatic way) and then seeing this spectacular view of our city, I felt incredibly lucky to live in London, with or without the congestion charge.
By Sophie Hudson
Snippets of Sense 