I could have used a photo of Mayor Johnson out on Queensway looking very businesslike with his transport director Kulveer Ranger and TfL boss Peter Hendy, but on this dizzy summer's day I was more in the mood for The Blond talking to a butcher inside Whiteleys, looking as though he's just spotted a flying pig - no subliminal message intended.
He was there to announce that in September there will be a five week consultation about the future of the C-Charge's Western Extension, which was introduced by Ken Livingstone last year despite strong opposition from residents. In this respect he is honouring a manifesto commitment, though my impression is that doing so is already proving less straightforward than it might have appeared during the campaign.
Here are the two references to it from his transport manifesto. First, from page 4:
"I will do what Ken Livingstone did not, and listen to Londoners on the Western extension. The Western extension was introduced despite the overwhelming opposition of local residents and I think that was wrong. I will consult the residents in the zone and on the border on whether we should keep the Western extension, and whatever the result I will abide by it."
Then, from page 14:
"We will therefore hold the consultation that Ken Livingstone never did. Upon election, we will launch a new consultation for the residents of the Western extension, and those in the immediately surrounding areas. This time, their views will be listened to. We pledge to abide by the result of the consultation, whether it is for or against. We believe that it is time that politicians actually listened to people."
At the time I shared the Evening Standard's view that this was pretty much a promise to dump the extension - the consultation would surely produce only one result. But maybe the issue has become more interesting. During his walkabout - I'll post a video clip from that later - Johnson heard a range of views from local people, including residents and retailers.
One shopper he spoke to said she'd opposed the scheme initially, but had now grown used to its advantages. John Zamit, who chairs the South East Bayswater Residents' Association, explained to the mayor that many other locals had changed their view, and that the consultation shouldn't be rushed. Perhaps consideration should be given to only levying the charge during the rush hours, and so on.
Johnson, wearing his "listening mayor" hat, seemed well aware that the extension question is a nuanced one, and that his consultation - which will cost between a third and half a million quid - needs to recognise this. Opinion polls too will be commissioned in the different neighbourhoods the extension encompasses. The outcomes could be quite revealing.
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