1.
London congestion charge
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The London congestion charge is a fee charged on most motor vehicles operating within the Congestion Charge Zone in Central London between 07,00 and 18,00 Mondays to Fridays. It is not charged on weekends, public holidays or between Christmas Day and New Years Day, the charge was introduced on 17 February 2003. The charge aims to reduce traffic flow in the central area. The standard charge is £11.50 for each day, for each vehicle that travels within the zone. The ULED scheme was designed to curb the number of diesel vehicles on Londons roads. A new toxicity charge, known as T-charge will be introduced from 23 October 2017 for vehicles that do not meet Euro 4 standards and these older polluting vehicles will pay an extra £10 charge on top of the congestion charge to drive within the Congestion Charge Zone. Enforcement is primarily based on number plate recognition. Transport for London is responsible for the charge which has operated by IBM since 1 November 2009. During the first ten years since the introduction of the scheme, from 2003 to 2013, about £1.2 billion of net revenue has been invested in public transport, road and bridge improvement and walking and cycling schemes. Of these, a total of £960 million was invested on improvements to the bus network, despite these gains, traffic speeds have also been getting progressively slower over the past decade, particularly in central London. Although primarily an area, there are also 136,000 residents. There is little industry within the zone. Signs were erected and symbols painted on the road to help drivers recognise the congestion charge area. In January 2013 Transport for London opened a consultation to increase the standard charge 15% by mid 2014. The increase was expected to generate an estimated £84 million of revenue by the end of 2017/18. The consultation process ran from January 2014 to March 2014, according to TfL the objective of the increase was to recoup inflation over the past three years and ensure the charge remains an effective deterrent to making unnecessary journeys in central London. As of 16 June 2014 the following apply, The standard fee is £11.50 per day if paid by midnight on the day of travel, £14 if paid by the end of the following day. Businesses with six or more vehicles can register with Fleet Auto Pay, from 20 May 2013 failure to pay results in the issuance of a Penalty Charge Notice for £130, reduced to £65 if paid within 14 days, but increased to £195 if unpaid after 28 days
2.
Road
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Roads consist of one or two roadways, each with one or more lanes and any associated sidewalks and road verges. Roads that are available for use by the public may be referred to as parkways, avenues, freeways, interstates, highways, or primary, secondary, and tertiary local roads. In urban areas roads may diverge through a city or village and be named as streets, serving a function as urban space easement. Modern roads are normally smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel, historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance. In the United Kingdom there is ambiguity between the terms highway and road. The Highway code details rules for road users and this includes footpaths, bridleways and cycle tracks, and also road and driveways on private land and many car parks. Vehicle Excise Duty, a use tax, is payable on some vehicles used on the public road. The definition of a road depends on the definition of a highway, in the United States, laws distinguish between public roads, which are open to public use, and private roads, which are privately controlled. The assertion that the first pathways were the trails made by animals has not been universally accepted, others believe that some roads originated from following animal trails. The Icknield Way is given as an example of type of road origination. By about 10,000 BC, rough roads/pathways were used by human travelers, the worlds oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt some time between 2600 and 2200 BC. Stone-paved streets are found in the city of Ur in the Middle East dating back to 4000 BC, corduroy roads are found dating to 4000 BC in Glastonbury, England. The Sweet Track, a timber causeway in England, is one of the oldest engineered roads discovered. Built in winter 3807 BC or spring 3806 BC, tree-ring dating enabled very precise dating and it was claimed to be the oldest road in the world until the 2009 discovery of a 6, 000-year-old trackway in Plumstead, London. Brick-paved streets were used in India as early as 3000 BC, in 500 BC, Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for Persia, including the Royal Road, which was one of the finest highways of its time. The road remained in use after Roman times, a hybrid of road transport and ship transport beginning in about 1740 is the horse-drawn boat in which the horse follows a cleared path along the river bank. From about 312 BC, the Roman Empire built straight strong stone Roman roads throughout Europe and North Africa, at its peak the Roman Empire was connected by 29 major roads moving out from Rome and covering 78,000 kilometers or 52,964 Roman miles of paved roads. In the 8th century AD, many roads were built throughout the Arab Empire, the most sophisticated roads were those in Baghdad, which were paved with tar
3.
Central London
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Central London is the innermost part of London, UK. Over time a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. From 2004 to 2008, the London Plan included a sub-region called Central London comprising Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Wandsworth and it had a 2001 population of 1,525,000. The sub-region was replaced in 2008 with a new structure which amalgamated inner and outer boroughs together and this was altered in 2011 when a new Central London sub region was created, now including the City of London and excluding Wandsworth. However, districts at the edge of this subregion such as Streatham, Dulwich. During the Herbert Commission and the subsequent passage of the London Government Bill, the first two were detailed in the 1959 Memorandum of Evidence of the Greater London Group of the London School of Economics. It had an population of 350,000 and occupied 7,000 acres. The area had an population of 400,000 and occupied 8,000 acres. During the passage of the London Government Bill an amendment was put forward to create a central borough corresponding to the used at the 1961 census. The population was estimated to be 270,000
4.
Ring road
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A ring road is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town or city. Australia and India also use the ring road, as in Melbournes Western Ring Road. In Canada the term is the most commonly used, with orbital also used to a lesser extent. In Europe, some ring roads, particularly those of standard which are longer in length, are often known as orbital motorways. Examples include the London Orbital, Rome Orbital and Manchester Orbital, in the United States, many ring roads are called beltlines, beltways, or loops, such as the Capital Beltway around Washington, D. C. Some ring roads, such as Washingtons Capital Beltway, use Inner Loop and Outer Loop terminology for directions of travel, the term ring road is occasionally – and inaccurately – used interchangeably with the term bypass. Construction of fully circumferential ring roads has generally occurred more recently, beginning in the 1960s in many areas, Interstate Highway System and similar-quality roads elsewhere were designed. Columbus, Ohio, in the United States, also has two, while Houston, Texas will have three official ring roads, some cities have far more – Beijing, for example, has five ring roads, simply numbered in increasing order from the city center. Geographical constraints can complicate or prohibit the construction of a ring road. Adjacency of international boundaries may also prohibit ring road completion in other cases, sometimes, the presence of significant natural or historical areas limits route options, as for the long-proposed Outer Beltway around Washington, D. C. C. Ring roads can also exist around radio masts carrying an umbrella antenna at the basements of the anchor of the wire of the umbrella antenna, such ring roads are usually only for internal use and closed to the public. Most orbital motorways are purpose-built major highways around a town or city, in the United States, beltways are commonly parts of the Interstate Highway System. Similar roads in the United Kingdom are often called orbital motorways, an excellent example of this is Londons North Circular/South Circular ring road. Such loops not only function as a bypass for through traffic, in the United States, an Interstate highway loop is usually designated by a three-digit number beginning with an even digit before the two-digit number of its parent interstate. Interstate spurs, on the hand, generally have three-digit numbers beginning with an odd digit. Circumferential highways are prominent features in or near large cities in the United States. In many cases, such as Atlanta, Georgia, Interstate 285 serves as a bypass while other highways pass directly through the city center. However, if a primary Interstate passes through a city and a loop bypasses it on one side
5.
Clockwise
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Rotation can occur in two possible directions. A clockwise motion is one that proceeds in the direction as a clocks hands, from the top to the right, then down and then to the left. The opposite sense of rotation or revolution is counterclockwise or anticlockwise, in a mathematical sense, a circle defined parametrically in a positive Cartesian plane by the equations x = cos t and y = sin t is traced counterclockwise as t increases in value. Before clocks were commonplace, the terms sunwise and deasil, deiseil and even deocil from the Scottish Gaelic language, widdershins or withershins was used for counterclockwise. The terms clockwise and counterclockwise can only be applied to a rotational motion once a side of the plane is specified. For example, the rotation of the Earth is clockwise when viewed from above the South Pole. Clocks traditionally follow this sense of rotation because of the clocks predecessor, clocks with hands were first built in the Northern Hemisphere, and they were made to work like sundials. In order for a sundial to work, it must be placed looking northward. Then, when the Sun moves in the sky, the shadow cast on the side of the sundial moves with the same sense of rotation. This is why hours were drawn in sundials in that manner, note, however, that on a vertical sundial, the shadow moves in the opposite direction, and some clocks were constructed to mimic this. The best-known surviving example is the clock in the Münster Cathedral. Occasionally, clocks whose hands revolve counterclockwise are nowadays sold as a novelty, historically, some Jewish clocks were built that way, for example in some synagogue towers in Europe, to accord with right-to-left reading in the Hebrew language. In 2014 under Bolivian president Evo Morales, the clock outside the Legislative Assembly in Plaza Murillo, typical nuts, screws, bolts, bottle caps, and jar lids are tightened clockwise and loosened counterclockwise in accordance with the right-hand rule. Almost all threaded objects obey this rule except for a few left-handed exceptions described below, sometimes the opposite sense of threading is used for a special reason. A thread might need to be left-handed to prevent operational stresses from loosening it, for bicycle pedals, the one on the left must be reverse-threaded to prevent it unscrewing during use. Similarly, the whorl of a spinning wheel uses a left-hand thread to keep it from loosening. A turnbuckle has right-handed threads on one end and left-handed threads on the other, in trigonometry and mathematics in general, plane angles are conventionally measured counterclockwise, starting with 0° or 0 radians pointing directly to the right, and 90° pointing straight up. However, in navigation, compass headings increase clockwise around the face, starting with 0° at the top of the compass
6.
City Road
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City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through inner north and central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road, Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for Londons first bypass, the New Road from Paddington to Islington, which was constructed in 1756. The City Road was built in 1761 as a continuation of route to the City of London. These roads form an entry point into the City of London. The part of the north of Old Street is on the London Inner Ring Road. The ringroad continues east along Old Street, nearby London Underground stations are Angel, Old Street and Moorgate. The disused City Road tube station was on City Road itself, London Bus routes serving the length of City Road include 43,205,214,394. The rhyme appears on the wall of the Eagle, honourable Artillery Company Museum City Road in Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert The London Encyclopedia
7.
Old Street
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The nearest London Underground station is Old Street on the Northern line. It is also on the National Rail Northern City Line, Old Street was recorded as Ealdestrate c.1200 and le Oldestrete in 1373. As befits its name there are suggestions that the road is of ancient origin. It lies on the route of an old Roman or possibly pre-Roman track connecting Silchester and Colchester, skirting round the walls of Londinium, today the areas known as the City of London. At the east end of Old Street there is a deviation of the line of Old Street as it joins the old Roman Road north to York. This deviation is visible on old maps but unexplained and is fronted by Shoreditch Town Hall the former Shoreditch Magistrates Court. Together with St Leonards, Shoreditch at the East end of Old Street this was the hub of the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch. The eastern half of the road is on the London Inner Ring Road, Old Street and the surrounding areas of Hoxton Square and Great Eastern Street also hosts a thriving night life. Old Street station is located under Old Street roundabout, the junction with City Road, within the past few years Old Street has become a favoured location for notable graffiti artists such as Banksy and Jef Aérosol. Banksy has featured several pieces on Shoreditch Bridge, Old Street and its immediate surrounding areas has attracted IT and tech companies, both established and start-ups, and has been dubbed Silicon Roundabout. Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner London, North, ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert Old Street in The London Encyclopedia
8.
Shoreditch
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Shoreditch is an inner city district in the historic East End of London and modern Central London within the London Borough of Hackney, lying immediately to the north of the City of London. The districts of Hoxton and Haggerston are part of Shoreditch, but the Shoreditch High Street railway station, lies just outside, the etymology of Shoreditch is debated. One legend holds that the place was originally named Shores Ditch, after Jane Shore, the mistress of Edward IV, however, the area was known as Soersditch long before Jane Shores life. A more plausible origin for the name is Sewer Ditch, in reference to a drain or watercourse in what was once a boggy area and it may have referred to the headwaters of the river Walbrook, which rose in the Curtain Road area. In a further theory, antiquarian John Weever claimed that the derived from Sir John de Soerdich. Shoreditch High Street and Kingsland road are a small sector of the Roman Ermine Street, known also as the Old North Road, it was a major coaching route to the north, exiting the City at Bishopsgate. The east–west course of Old Street–Hackney Road was also originally a Roman Road, connecting Silchester with Colchester. Shoreditch Church is of ancient origin and features in the line when I grow rich say the bells of Shoreditch, from the nursery rhyme Oranges. Shoreditch was the site of a house of canonesses, the Augustinian Holywell Priory and this priory was located between Shoreditch High Street and Curtain Road to east and west and Batemans Row and Holywell Lane to north and south. In 1576 James Burbage built the first playhouse in England, known as The Theatre, some of Shakespeares plays were performed here and at the nearby Curtain Theatre, built the following year and 200 yards to the south. It was here that Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet gained Curtain plaudits, in 1599 Shakespeares Company literally upped sticks and moved the timbers of The Theatre to Southwark at expiration of the lease to construct The Globe. The Curtain continued performing plays in Shoreditch until at least 1627, the suburb of Shoreditch was attractive as a location for these early theatres because it was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers. During the 17th century, wealthy traders and Huguenot silk weavers moved to the area, by the 19th century Shoreditch was also the locus of the furniture industry, now commemorated in the Geffrye Museum on Kingsland Road. However the area declined along with textile and furniture industries and by the end of the 19th century Shoreditch was a byword for crime, prostitution. This situation was not improved by extensive devastation of the stock in the Blitz during World War II. In the late 19th century this was one of the largest theatres in London, in 1926 it was converted into a cinema called The New Olympia Picturedrome. The building was demolished in 1940, sims Reeves, Mrs Marriott and James Anderson all appeared here, also performed were programmes of classical opera and even Shakespeare, with such luminaries as Henry Irving. There was considerable rivalry with the West End theatres, with real rain, a real flood, and a real balloon
9.
Commercial Street, London
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Commercial Street is an arterial road in Tower Hamlets, east London that runs north to south from Shoreditch High Street to Whitechapel High Street through the East End district of Spitalfields. The road is a section of the A1202 London Inner Ring Road, as the name implies, Commercial Street has historically been dominated by industrial and commercial activity, which it maintains to this day. It is on the City fringes, and much industry that was seen as too noisome for the City was once exiled to such areas as this, however, since the early 1990s the street has grown increasingly fashionable, while maintaining its busy commercial feel. The southern section of Commercial Street was created in 1843–5 as part of a clearance programme. The extension north from the market, to the Eastern Counties Railways Bishopsgate terminus, in both phases of development there was some initial difficulty in finding tenants for the building plots, and much of the street was not built up until the 1860s and 1870s. Until the late century, the street was heavily dominated by the activities of Spitalfields wholesale fruit and vegetable market. Since the mid-1970s, however, the area has been subject to a process of gradual gentrification. Many of the units in the street are now occupied by fashionable clothing shops or restaurants. Both the market buildings and Christ Church are lucky survivors, as demolition has loomed for both of them at one point or another. The northern end of the street is dominated on its side by the sprawling Exchange Building. On the western side stands the former Commercial Street Police Station, just to its south, with a wing extending into Folgate Street, is the first tenement block of model dwellings to be erected by the Peabody Donation Fund for Londons industrious poor. The red-brick Jacobethan block was designed by H. A. Darbishire and opened in 1864, many Ripper tours start out nearby. Although the pub has long been refurbished, it retains some fine original tilework. Prostitution remained a feature of Commercial Street until recently, dorset Street, which ran off Commercial Street to the west immediately south of Spitalfields Market, was dubbed the worst street in London. Much of the section of the street is occupied by warehouse buildings of the 1860s. Wentworth Street runs off Commercial Street to the west, the estate is now managed by Eastend Homes, and in 2012 was undergoing a major programme of regeneration that would see the demolition and replacement of several of the blocks. To the south again is the 11-storey Ibis London City budget hotel, and beyond that, at the junction with Whitechapel High Street, One Commercial Street, on the eastern side of Commercial Street stands Toynbee Hall, the university settlement founded in 1884. The nearest London Underground station is Aldgate East, at Commercial Streets southern end, Shoreditch High Street London Overground station is close to the northern end, by the former Bishopsgate Goods Yard
