Livingstone and businesses at odds over London City Airport
25.01.08
Ken Livingstone, the London Mayor, is on collision course with the big employers at Canary Wharf and the City over his opposition to London City Airport, Martin Waller at the Times reports. Someone sent Mr. Waller a copy of a letter from Stuart Popham, senior partner in law firm Clifford Chance, which is based at the Wharf, requesting a meeting to discuss Ken's 'apparent opposition to the continuing success of London City airport'.
The letter was also sent to other big employers in the Docklands, and Mr Waller reports that other employers are unhappy in the City as well. He says that London First, the business umbrella group, is concerned that Mayor Ken's argument has been that, once Crossrail is completed, they can all spend an hour and a half getting to Heathrow and two hours clearing security rather than travelling ten minutes up the road and checking in 30 minutes before a flight at ' the more efficient London City.'
Mr Waller's calls over two days to the Mayors office to ask if this is still his policy were not returned. He concludes 'Ken has always been keen to keep in with big business, on tall towers, for example. Is he really prepared to oppose the big banks on this? Somehow I doubt it.'
We find the story even more of a paradox. Mr Livingstone is opposed to the expansion of Heathrow, where a new short runway would allow the airport to continue to offer short haul routes, rather than see flights increasingly polarise to more profitable long haul services because of capacity constraints. He is also opposed to the expansion of London City. If he gets his way on both, this could be bad for business, and ultimately bad for London.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book london city airport hotels or london city airport parking at the lowest price, click on these links to two great london city airport parking and london city airport hotels price comparison pages.
