River-side Development of London It is strange that the London
County Council, controlled by a party that is not generally over-modest in its ambition to embark on public works, should have put forward so half-hearted a plan for the reclamation of the south side of the Thames opposite the Victoria Embank- ment as that recommended by its Highways Committee. Briefly, the plan is to acquire for development the unsightly area on the south bank between the County Hall and Waterloo Bridge. This would lead to an extension of the embankment terrace from Westminster Bridge, and presumably the laying out of gardens with, ultimately, planned buildings behind. If this were put forward as the first step in a comprehensive scheme for opening up the bleak territory that stretches from London Bridge to the County Hall, with a new east and west thoroughfare by the river-side, and a north and south thoroughfare over a new Charing Cross Bridge, the plan would be worthy of the finest traditions of the County Council or of the best London town-planners from Wren onwards. But Mr. Morrison has rele- gated the Charing Cross Bridge scheme to doomsday, and there is no indication that this plan is made with reference to any larger projected plan which may be applied in the future. It is to be hoped that Mr. Morrison and the Highways Committee will think again.
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