Local MP’s plea to Prime Minister to help fix Gallows Corner.
The Romford MP Andrew Rosindell has made a personal plea to Boris Johnson to please help him fix Gallows Corner.
Andrew Rosindell, lifelong resident and M.P. for Romford, has today urged the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to personally step in to ensure that Gallows Corner has the funding needed to replace the 50-year flyover.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions on the 18th of November, Andrew Rosindell said that his constituents “have now put up with the dangerous junction and flyover at Gallows Corner, which was meant to only be a temporary solution, for over 50 years.”
The M.P. appealed to the government’s plans to “build back better” in his call for the Prime Minister to step in “where TfL have failed and guarantee the necessary funding to replace and reshape Gallows Corner, especially as it will form a major route to and from the new Lower Thames Crossing.”
In response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I can ensure my honourable friend that we are working with TfL to see what we can do to resolve the issue of Gallows Corner, and we will update him in due course.”
In 2018 Gallows Corner was shortlisted for potential improvements in the government’s ‘Major Road Network’, however recent reports have indicated that TfL are considering scrapping the upgrades. In October of this year, Andrew Rosindell wrote to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, about the potential abandonment of improvements to Gallows Corner, warning him that “abandoning vital infrastructure projects will only compound the economic damage already done by the pandemic.”
Andrew Rosindell M.P. said:
“Gallows Corner is a matter that shouldn’t have to be raised at this level. However, after years of broken promises from TfL and the Mayor of London, I felt I had no choice but to use this opportunity to speak to the Prime Minister directly and urge him to personally see that Gallows Corner has the funding that it so desperately needs to bring an end to this decades-long nightmare.”
Thank you Mr Rosindale for raising the matter of Gallows Corner with Mr Johnson in the Houses of Parliament. It is much appreciated and it will be a great day when the chaos is finally resolved. Unfortunately, we can’t hold our breaths on this one, because, as we all know, we are in very strange and uncharted territory regarding the pandemic we are experiencing. The money will have to be paid back at some time regardless of who is in power, be it the Government or Tfl. Again, every previous administration has promised the world, yet never delivered; but the important thing is that you have highlighted the problem again, and that is the best way to keep the issue to the fore. One thing that would help to take politics and point scoring out of the equation would to be publish any reply you receive from Mr Khan. Tfl may be considering scrapping the upgrades, but if they are, then it would be beneficial to know the reasons. We all know that like many ‘businesses’, Tfl are short on income. However, ‘you’ can’t say they are/were bankrupt before the pandemic if ‘you’ won’t produce clear evidence to support it. Tfl will have to repay the money they have borrowed, just as much as the Government will have to repay their borrowings. It might be a bit longer before the chaos is resolved but, on behalf of all motorists who have to persevere with the chaos, please keep continuing to emphasise the topic with everyone concerned.
Did you raise this issue with the previous Mayor of London at the time Andrew ? What did he have to say about the situation ? I wonder what became of him……