Docklands link starts

THE Department of Transport has given permission for preliminary work to start on the Jubilee Line extension from Green Park to Docklands, writes Nicholas Faith.

Although the decision to build the line depends on agreement between the Government and the administrators of the property company Olympia & York, London Transport is spending up to pounds 4m to move water pipes and other utilities in Parliament Square.

The official reason is that for security reasons the work can only be done when Parliament is not sitting in the long summer recess.

The decision will be seen as evidence that a decision is near on the complicated deal between the administrators, the Treasury, and those departments, including the Environment and Transport, likely to move to Docklands.

The present favourite solution is for the Treasury to acquire a free office block in Canary Wharf in return for building the line, which is crucial to attract new tenants to Canary Wharf.