Mayor claims first victory in roadworks war

Boris Johnson today claimed his first success in his "guerrilla war" on roadworks after forcing TfL chiefs to get one of London's busiest roads moving.

Transport chiefs reopened Borough High Street to two-way traffic for the first time since April and said the contractors had been "severely reprimanded".

They also admitted the contractors had not been working the full hours stated in their permit. There will now be a 100 per cent increase in the number of workers on the site, allowing the job to be completed by next month instead of early next year.

Once it is finished, there will also be a ban on all but emergency works along the route until May 2016.

Mr Johnson today told the Standard: "Some roadworks are obviously unavoidable, but there is no excuse for inconveniencing the public and undermining businesses through lethargy or incompetence." Evening Standard highlighted the high street's ongoing problems from roadworks, which residents and businesses said were badly managed and often neglected.

Under the Mayor's "guerrilla warfare" plan, Londoners are asked to name and shame utilities companies who flout regulations on Twitter.
But after he announced the measures on Wednesday people in Southwark said their plight was being ignored.

This prompted Isabel Dedring, Mr Johnson's Deputy Mayor for Transport, to summon TfL chiefs to Borough High Street to demand immediate action.
TfL then pledged to end the misery the roadworks has caused.

Garrett Emmerson, chief operating officer, surface transport, for TfL, apologised and admitted that the Mayor was "furious". Mr Emmerson told Nick Ferrari on LBC radio: "This really was a far from model set of roadworks. It wasn't being progressed efficiently and embarrassingly, it's one of our own works." Traders and workers said they were delighted the street was now "back to normal".