The report on London Waterways will be launched today, ahead of the Greens pressing Ken Livingstone for action at this months Mayor’s Question Time at City Hall.
The Greens are calling for:
· a Blue Ribbon Network Agency to be set up by the London Mayor to be a strategic body for all London’s waterways;· an action plan for increasing waterborne transport of freight;· more money to be spent on opening up defunct stretches of canal, improving towpaths, enhancing wildlife and encouraging cycling;· new financial incentives to encourage waterborne freight;· money from new canal side developments to go into a London Waterways Fund, which would aim to preserve the character and traditional use of the waterways;· local authority waste contracts for riparian boroughs to require 10% to be transported by water;· all canal side developments, such as supermarkets to have canal access for recycling and deliveries;· transport of construction materials and waste to and from the Olympic site and Kings Cross redevelopment to be by canal.
Green Party Member of the London Assembly, Jenny Jones said:
"London’s canals are a wasted resource. There is potential for moving millions of tonnes of freight by canal and reducing lorry traffic through London. But many parts of the canal network carry no traffic at all. This has to change. London’s canals must be put to work again.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1) In Hackney, the proposed ‘waste by water’ scheme could result in domestic waste being transferred from road to the Lee Navigation – reducing lorry miles from 124,000 to 45,000 a year.2) The recently approved plan for a waste and recycling centre at Old Oak Railway Sidings, Willesden Junction, will unlock the potential of West London’s canals. The plan includes a new wharf on the Grand Union Canal, which will initially take 100,000 lorry journeys off West London’s roads and allow transfer between canal and rail.