Relief at road proposals
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• Transport Minister Peter Bottomley has announced plans to upgrade Britain's road system, including a rural network ringing the M25; an extra lane on some motorways including the M2, and a relief road between Gatwick and Heathrow airports.
This comes days after the Confederation of British Industry warned that road congestion is costing the country £15 billion a year.
A CBI survey of 2,000 businesses in the South East — the area worst affected — showed that congestion costs every household £5 a week because delivery costs are 20% higher than the rest of the country. Jams cost Sainsburys £3.4m, British Telecom, 27.25m, and Royal Mail Letters .210.4m every year. By increasing the average traffic speed by 3krnh, as the CBI hopes to do, six major companies named in the survey will save £30m a year.
To stop London from "strangling itself to death", the CBI proposes that a transport minister be appointed to head a task force in the priority zone which will give incentives to private industry to invest in the transport programme and will introduce `transport bonds', giving long-term dividends to investors.
The CBI report also outlines short-term improvements which include: reducing the number of deliveries during rush hour peak periods; reinstating conductors on Central London buses, and repairing roads at night.
Longer-term solutions include extending the Docklands light railway and making more use of the River Thames.