Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Reopening Disused Tube Stations - a step closer?
Johnson asked "Are we saying that the consortia that you can put together, they will cover the cost of remediating the stations and doing them up and making them compliant?"
Chambers said it was and that "I am in contact with Coca Cola and Vodafone's Head of Communications, and the Olympic Portfolio Director in order to pour in that cash tax-efficiently. Also, it means that the government can lease these sites to me and still make money for TfL from them".
Anthony Browne agreed to follow up the ideas and Chambers has a meeting set up with the Mayor's office in the next couple of weeks.
Peter Watt (formerly of TimeOut) met Chambers last year and testifies to his determination. He wrote yesterday "I hope he succeeds. Londoners have a tremendous thirst for the mysterious parts of the city that lie beneath their feet – the weekend opening of Brunel’s Thames Tunnel earlier this year proved to be extraordinarily popular – and a dedicated museum to Subterranean London would be possibly the most exciting to happen in this city ever (although I may be biased in this view)."
I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but know it would be extremely popular.
Watt believes Chambers has the will to succeed with this venture: "Chambers is determined, as Boris and Browne are soon to discover, and I would never bet against him. 'I’m not going to give up,' he told me. 'There’s no stopping me. And as soon as people realise that they seem to come on board pretty quickly.'"
As I said last year, I wish Ajit Chambers every success and will be following his progress with great interest.
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