News
February 2009 saw the 8 Regional Assemblies
submit new advice on their Regional Funding Allocation for major
transport schemes to the government. Submitted by
the regions for the first time in January 2005, the RFA engages
the regions in prioritising major local transport schemes (costing
at least £5 million)
(including certain Highways Agency schemes) against each other. The latest submissions confirm commitment to many big road schemes, such as dualling the A453 between the M1 and Nottingham, the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road and the Norwich Northern Distributor Road:
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News Focus
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Summer 2009: what does the recession mean for traffic levels and roadbuilding? Petrol prices are still well down on a year ago , but once you're out of work you might not be driving. The Chancellor pledged on November 24 2008 to bring forward £3 billion of spending planned for 2010/11 to the current financial year, some of it to "increase capacity in the motorway network", but that now encompasses a host of options.
LS8 namechecks a few big road schemes, focuses on the new(ish) planning framework for roads and discusses the finance. |
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Analysis
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Policing on bikes made further advances
at force, district, station and PCSO level over summer 2008. How is the
case for police on bikes proving so compelling? |
Features
July 2009: over 13 years since
the first Reclaim the Streets party (and that's our parasol in
a bucket of sand stopping the records melting in Pershore Road,
Birmingham).
The movement baffled the media, broadening to take in striking dockers, went global, then turned on capitalism itself. Its end as a victim of its own success was probably inevitable, but we ask a few questions anyway. With lots of flyers you won't find anywhere else. |
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LS8 Sidelines
20-6-09
that's my seat
A change is occurring as a result of so many train tickets being sold with seat reservations combined with the overcrowding on many routes: the west coast mainline springs to mind. People are quite willing to turf someone out of their reserved seat on a train. A few years ago, British reserve and politeness meant that the standard response to finding someone in your seat in any area of life was often met with a shrug while you walked off to find a seat somewhere else. The trains are getting so crowded that nowadays there may not be a seat anywhere else. It's quite good in a way: as conditions get closer to capacity in many areas, regulation is a thing that keeps us just this side of severe problems.
27-5-09 routemaster design
Where have we got to with the Mayor of London's extremely generous competition to design a new London bus? In December the 2 winning designs were announced, and the contract to build, test and commission a prototype was recently advertised. Unfortunately for the mayor, Arriva and Metroline have put a lot of double-decker Enviro-400 buses out in London. One striking features of the mayor's winning designs is their curviness. Well the Enviro-400 is pretty curvey too, and since most people won't care much beyond the visual impact of the new routemaster should it ever hit the road, the whole thing looks a little irrelevant.
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