Sutton Transport Improvements

Boris Johnson (Mayor of London):  Thanks, Steve, yes, and you and I have worked together on this and I thank you for that.  I went down to see the Life Sciences Cluster; I thought it was fantastic.  There is just amazing stuff being done in London.  We are world leaders in the cures of these cancers.  They invented a drug.  What is it called?  Not Toblerone.  Progesterone.  I cannot remember what it was called.  Anyway, amazing stuff.  Something-erone.  Not Toblerone.  It was not Toblerone.  That is another type of drug.  It was just fantastic, the work that is going on there.

They deserve to be properly supported in their development plans and one way to do that is to have proper transport.  We are working with the borough - with Sutton - to see what we can do to extend the tram network.  It will depend on considerable development and increases in densities in the area, but that could probably be done in a very beautiful and sustainable way.  There is a lot to play for there.

Steve O’Connell AM:  Yes.  Thank you, Mr Mayor.  Yes, I agree with you that the plans for the expansion of the institute are very exciting.  It will be of great benefit to London, nationally and also internationally. 

Your point is a well-made one because it will be about infrastructure.  Fundamentally, what comes with it will be investment in schools and houses around that particular campus itself and you identify potentially the need for a Tube extension that will go through the town centre and then on to any proposed campus.  Sutton is a very unique borough. 

Boris Johnson (Mayor of London):  Sorry, “Tube extension”, did you say?

Steve O’Connell AM:  Sorry.  I meant tram extension.  Sorry.  I will get on to the Tube extension.

Boris Johnson (Mayor of London):  Yes.  The Tube extension is going in ‑‑

Steve O’Connell AM:  That will be in the next term.  Sutton is a unique borough.  It has been announced as the most ‘normal’ place to live in London, but it is also unique for another reason.  It is the only borough in London without a Tube station, a tram station, a London Overground station, a Crossrail station or a proposed Crossrail 2 station.  In that context, my constituents in Sutton are getting a pretty raw deal and I know you have been down there and you accept that.  If you place that next to the aspiration of the cancer research campus, again, would you agree that Sutton does deserve a tram station?

Boris Johnson (Mayor of London):  Yes.  What it requires - and I think we have it - is a borough that is very dynamic and go-ahead and wants to do the development that will make the whole thing add up.  What TfL cannot do is go around with a gigantic chequebook and put in transport infrastructure that will not be much used except by the scientists and will not generate much by way of new housing, which London so desperately needs.  Therefore, it has to be part of a package. 

Steve O’Connell AM:  It is now accepted by the council there that there needs to be an uplift and there needs to be housing in the town centre and around the town.  Again, back to you, Mr Mayor: if the council comes up with a suitable proposition - and I spoke earlier about you digging deep - will you dig deep with TfL’s funds to support the borough?

Boris Johnson (Mayor of London):  Dig deep?  We will.  We will. 

Steve O’Connell AM:  I will take that, Chair.