An expanded Heathrow will mean an unacceptable level of noise and air pollution

When it was announced that the Davies Commission will report its findings after the recent General Election it sounded like an excuse to allow a new government to implement change without much legitimacy.

As it currently stands, of the main parties, only the Liberal Democrats are against expanding Heathrow. This is at a local, a regional and a national level.

We believe that an expanded Heathow would bring an unacceptable level of noise and air pollution to Ealing.

Myself seven years ago at Downing Street

The Liberal Democrats in government have been pioneers of investing in increasing more sustainable methods of travel like HS2 and Crossrail. We believe that Councils and the government should do more to encourage cycling.

The Davies Commission is about to make recommendations into expanding air capacity in London and a Conservative Government (or Labour if they had got in) will sadly be inclined to support this proposal.

I suspect that the Conservatives will press ahead with Heathrow expansion.

We hear constantly about triple glazing and quieter planes but we have seen more flights in total and more night flights. The cost of triple glazing millions of properties would not be feasible and the airlines will do anything to avoid this.

We need to think more about the health of our children. The schools I visited in Hounslow had children kept inside due to noise from the planes flying frequently overhead.

Air pollution does not have regard to borough boundaries and so Heathrow generated air pollution will harm us all in London.

That is why retaining Heathrow and not expanding it, is the only option for Ealing and West London.

We need to gather ourselves to stop the government from expanding Heathrow. The health of children in Ealing depends on it.

Mayor of London clearly does not want to help out part-time workers

At the Mayor’s Question Time last week, he refused to further consider the merits of a travelcard for part-time workers. This would allow many workers to have more flexibility in their jobs and for many to take up part time work when currently this is not possible due to Boris's high fare increases.

Following questioning from Caroline Pidgeon, the Mayor, who is also the chair of Transport for London, gave a clear cut reply that he had ruled out any further consideration of the proposal.  His stance led to criticisms even from Conservative Assembly Members.

The Mayor's statement that he will not consider further introducing a travel card to cover part-time workers is deeply disappointing.

Caroline Pidgeon working to improve London's transport

Already 900,000 people in London work part-time and the figure is rapidly increasing.

Daily caps on Oyster simply don't provide the same good deal for the many people who need to get to an office three days a week.  Ultimately the whole travel card system is centred around the old fashioned idea of everyone working a five day week in an office environment.  That simply isn't the real working experience anymore for many people.

The Mayor, as chair of Transport for London, should stop making excuses and instead ensure that people who work part-time or regularly work from home are given a fair deal.