London commuter belt needs own transport body says report

摘要

A single transport body should be created to oversee infrastructure across a huge swathe of South East England, engineers said last week. This was one of the recommendations in consultant Aecom's Big, Bold, Global, Connected -London 2065 report, which sets out its blueprint for developing the capital over the next 50 years. The report called for acknowledgement of the emergence of a London City Region, defined as capturing everywhere within an hour's commute of the capital. Aecom said this region - which could span from Brighton to Northampton and from Southend to Swindon -would have a population of 30M by 2065. It called for creation of a London City Region Transportation Authority, responsible for coordinating all transport initiatives within the zone in line with balanced spatial growth proposals. Such a body will be critical to avoid London losing its global position in the face of growth of mega-cities such as Dubai and Shanghai, says the report.