Conservative members walked out of the London Assembly’s plenary meeting today to prevent a motion on a 20mph limit for Blackfriars Bridge being debated, according to Labour sources.
The walkout left the session at City Hall in chaos and the Chair had to abandon the meeting as it was inquorate.
City & East London Labour Assembly Member John Biggs was furious at the walk-out.
“It is absolutely outrageous that Tory members cannot even debate this important issue,” he said afterwards. “Only last week there was another accident on Blackfriars Bridge.
“They should not play games where safety of vulnerable people is concerned.”
He has been looking into the issue with fellow Labour Assembly Member Val Shawcross since February and has met TfL twice to prepare a detailed submission about changing the road layout design. They each represent different ends of the bridge on the Assembly—Biggs the north, Shawcross the south.
But the two have already had a setback with TfL declaring it won’t be keeping the 20mph as it believes two new signal-controlled pedestrian crossings would reduce Blackfriars Bridge traffic speeds.
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