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Ken’s piazza plan is driven out
PLANS to transform Parliament Square into a pedestrian piazza have been scrapped by London mayor Boris Johnson.
Banning traffic around the square would lead to increased congestion and destroy an important green space, said Mr Johnson.
The decision has sparked outrage from former mayor Ken Livingstone and environmentalists who have branded the decision “idiotic”.
The project, the brainchild of the previous incumbent, would have meant closing the roads to traffic in front of Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. In place of the the manicured lawn would have been a Continental-style piazza with paving stones and benches.
Mr Johnson said: “The scheme would have turned a green glade of heroes into a vast, blasted, chewing-gummed piazza.
“There is absolutely no sense in Londoners paying £18 million from their already stretched transport budget in order to reduce capacity on London’s roads.”
Mr Livingstone lambasted the Mayor for bowing to the motoring lobby. Speaking to Building Design magazine, he said: “This is an administration that is basically cost-cutting. Boris doesn’t want to end up upsetting the motorists. It should be an amazing square, not a squalid traffic roundabout.”
The project was due to be ready in time for the London 2012 Olympics. |
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