| Topic: | Reply | |
| Posted by: | Andrew OSullivan | |
| Date/Time: | 29/01/20 08:19:00 |
That the Mayor has given the go ahead to this must be a sign of desperation. He knows it will lose him votes and, as you point out, the Bollo Lane scheme is just one of many across London which is set to be controversial. However, he is unlikely to intervene unless the polls suggest there is any danger of him losing, which at this stage looks unlikely. The more likely impact is on the make up of the London Assembly. I think this development is in the Ealing and Hillingdon constituency and the Conservatives will fancy their chances of taking it back from Labour. There have been countless times when a public sector body short of cash has looked to its property assets to plug a hole but they have generally ended in tears for the taxpayer at least. It is not that these schemes don't make money for some people and given the size of the Bollo Lane quite a few people are going to get very rich on the back of it. However, when it comes to the surplus that will be left for investment in transport we can assume now that it won't be much. The Mayor is being naive if he thinks that the way the project has been conducted so far is not indicative of how it will be carried out to completion. He assumes he is an insider and when the project team tries to dupe the general public they would never do the same to him. He is wrong because if they are unethical about the consultation they will not suddenly become guardians of the public interest in other matters and they will do what is necessary to line their own pockets at the expense of the rest of us. |