Thursday 11 March 2010

Impressed by London Assembly - focus on puddles & transport

Somehow, the question and answer database for London Assembly members has utterly eluded me until today.  In it, I discovered the answers to loads of questions (puddles in Kennington, pier at Vauxhall, re-zoning tube stations) etc.  Here's a sample of some of our ongoing issues:

Q. 17/3/2010 - Cllr Shawcross - "There is a gap in the bus network between Waterloo and Vauxhall Stations. An easy solution to this issue is the extension of Bus Route 381 from County Hall to Vauxhall Bus Station. This would also vastly improve access to St Thomas’s Hospital. Will the Mayor please ask TfL to investigate the feasibility of this proposal?"

A. Answer forthcoming after meeting.

[This is very interesting.  I wonder who submits the questions.  Maybe SE11 lurkers could start tabling some questions.  I recall hearing somebody ask very recently why it's not possible to get a bus from Kennington to Chelsea.  I suppose you could walk/bus to Oval, bus to Vauxhall, and then bus from Vauxhall to Chelsea....  On the other hand, I wonder who actually designs the routes.  Who actually decides whether Lewisham gets connected to Hampstead?]

Q.  27/1/2010 - Cllr Pidgeon - "What work are TfL doing to prevent the pooling of water on Kennington Park Road –particularly by the crossings?

A. Mayor Boris (shortened) - "TfL has arranged for its highway maintenance works contractor to cleanse the adjacent drainage system, which will involve emptying the gullies and cleaning out the culverts to allow the water to freely disperse. The works are due to be complete by 28 January."

[Has this happened? It was still pooling by the tube station, last time week.]

The only thing I can't find on the Assembly web site is an RSS feed, otherwise I could just pipe everything through to Twitter and we could be automatically informed of whenever Val Shawcross or Caroline Pidgeon mentioned issues affecting us.  Anyhow, I'm really impressed that they actually ask Boris about puddles!!

5 comments:

Mark Demery said...

RSS feeds for news releases from the London Assembly and Assembly members are available at http://www.london.gov.uk/media/newsfeeds

SE11 Lurker said...

Wow :) Thanks for the prompt response, Mark.

What I'm looking for specifically are feeds that draw on info that's located in the questions/answers database, so that I could, for example, receive alerts every time Caroline Pidgeon or Val Shawcross raised questions about SE11.

The general press releases are ok, but I think I'd want to target for something more specific.

Anonymous said...

Bus just outside of The Black Prince goes straight to Sloane Square.

SE11 Lurker said...

Well, I never noticed that! I'll mention it to whoever made the Chelsea remark.

Simon said...

See http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/the-london-assembly/questions-to-the-mayor

or try the MQT page http://mqt.london.gov.uk/mqt/ - not sure whether they are technically advanced enough to offer alerts

Your best bet if you have any questions about TfL/ London government is to channel them through our GLA member Valerie Shawcross.

She asked one on my behalf about cycling a year or so ago and I got a not very useful answer from Boris (not her fault that the man is not keen on answering questions).

The easiest way to do this is to email them to her (valerie.shawcross@london.gov.uk) and then she will submit it for you (someone in her office will usually get back to confirm). Its worth also looking through the list of questions and answers on the GLA site as I have found that some of the questions I thought of had been asked already.

The politicans are our representatives - make them work for their salaries!

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