Southwark Committee to Invite Mayor, After Lib Dem Request

Southwark Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) will invite the Mayor to its July meeting to discuss bus cuts, after a Liberal Democrat request on Tuesday.

TfL is proposing bus cuts that would result in the withdrawal of 16 routes, of which four run through Southwark.

The transport body argues that passenger levels are significantly down. However, Southwark bus usage was at 77% of pre-pandemic levels in March.

The Southwark Liberal Democrats requested in an open letter that the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, attend a July OSC meeting to face scrutiny from councillors on the cuts.

The group received confirmation on Tuesday that OSC, the primary council body for scrutiny, would invite the mayor to its July meeting.

Commenting, Cllr Irina von Wiese, Southwark Liberal Democrat vice-chair of OSC said:

“These potential bus route cuts would make Southwark even more of a public transport black hole. We know that bus passenger levels have climbed back up, so we need to hear from the Mayor’s mouth why they are insistent on punishing our residents by withdrawing these routes.”