In the papers today - Thursday 7th August 2008

Plans to pedestrianise London's Parliament Square have been scrapped as it was revealed that the capital's streets are as gridlocked now as they were before the introduction of the congestion charge five years ago. . . .

Transport for London said yesterday that traffic congestion in central London is the same as it was before February 2003, when the charge was introduced - The Guardian

A total of £28m is to be set aside to pay for the repairs to the worst damaged of 857 schools affected by last summer's floods. More than half the money will go to the Yorkshire port of Hull, which gets £15.2m with the neighbouring East Riding of Yorkshire getting a further £6.9m, mostly for schools in the outer suburbs of Hull - The Guardian

Airport owner BAA is close to pulling off a multibillion pound refinancing , one of the biggest since the credit crunch began, after bondholders agreed to a new debt structure, backed by the income from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports. BAA yesterday secured "overwhelming" support from nine different groups of bondholders who hold £4.7bn of debt - The Guardian

The wind turbine on the roof of David Cameron's house may be responsible for more carbon dioxide than it saves because of low wind speeds in urban Britain. A study by the Carbon Trust and the Met Office says such turbines may not generate enough electricity to counter emissions created by their manufacture and use - The Independent

Wind turbines on houses are four times less effective in towns and cities than they are in the countryside, tests by the Carbon Trust have shown. Urban wind turbines can perform so badly that they cause more emissions in their construction and fitting than they save by generating green electricity - The Times

Traffic jams in London are as bad now as when the congestion charge was introduced five years ago, official figures from Transport for London have shown. The number of cars coming into the charging zone has dipped but roadworks and traffic management have reduced road capacity - The Times

Britain's motorists are suffering a increasing number of punctures because of the poor state of roads. RAC patrols have also had to deal with a 65 per cent rise in the number of damaged wheels last year, compared to 2006 and 56 per cent more cases where suspension has needed repair  – The Telegraph