I am extremely pleased with the recent, fantastic news for the proposed Rotherhithe Bridge.
I’ve been pressing for this to be brought forward and London’s Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan has now effectively accelerated the proposal and committed to delivering the new pedestrian and cycling bridge by 2020.
I’ve been in touch with hundreds of local people about this issue – as well as meeting the designers and Sustrans, surveying people’s views online and by post, and raising the issue with Ministers and City Hall. The local campaigners, including the Rotherhithe Labour councillors, deserve our collective thanks for keeping up the pressure for the bridge. It will make a fantastic contribution to the peninsula – and help ease the overcrowding on the Jubilee Line and local buses, as well as providing a new, environmentally friendly link across the Thames.
The collective, team effort has paid off and it is great to work in partnership with a Labour Mayor to help deliver the new bridge for our community. I will, of course, keep pressing for further improvements to local transport infrastructure – including more tubes on the Jubilee Line and an extension of the cycle hire scheme to benefit more local people.
The closure of Tower Bridge has revealed a significant weakness in how the City of London Corporation and Transport for London measure and plan major works. The logjam around the north of Southwark – from Borough High Street to Jamaica Road especially – has been horrific. Further mitigating measures must be taken to relieve pressure and the associated congestion fumes. The chaos and impact on local people was avoidable and TfL must also ensure the City undertakes more routine maintenance on bridges and doesn’t build them up again.
The other campaign win is for people with serious health conditions, like Parkinson’s, or even cancer. In 2012 I asked the Coalition Government to stop demanding that people whose condition will not change or could only worsen must attend assessments of their health every six months. The tests were pointless for these people, but caused additional stress for them and their families as well as wasting taxpayers’ money. Back then, Lib Dem and Tory Ministers failed to listen. But the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has finally agreed with me and has announced the end of pointless, regular assessments.
I’ll keep working hard and trying to make a difference where I can for our community.
If you’d like my help with an issue or have a concern to raise please email me at: Neil.Coyle.MP@parliament.uk or call: 020 7232 4640.