Desmond Plummer

Arthur Desmond Herne Plummer, Baron Plummer of St Marylebone, TD, DL, FRSA (25 May 1914 – 2 October 2009) was a British Conservative Party politician in London and the longest serving Leader of the Greater London Council 1967–1973.

Education and military service Plummer went to Hurstpierpoint College and the College of Estate Management.

However, the second term saw the GLC embark on a highly controversial policy over urban transport. Plummer believed that London's streets, constructed before the car, were insufficient to cope with the growing traffic, and proposed to deal with the problem by creating urban Motorways in the 'Motorway Box'. The GLC would compulsorily purchase homes and construct three separate ring roads. Although previous administrations had built short stretches of motorway, this was the first comprehensive policy. The first stretch to be built was the Westway from Marylebone to Acton, which involved the demolition of thousands of homes and building a large concrete flyover which continues to be the major route into central London from the west. Residents in areas where the new motorways were to go declared their firm opposition, and the Labour opposition pledged to scrap the schemes and instead subsidise public transport. This, combined with the difficulties of Edward Heath's Conservative government, led to Plummer and the Conservatives being voted out in 1973. They had one child, a daughter. The couple remained together until her death in 1998. Plummer lived in St John's Wood later in life, and he continued to work and to attend the House of Lords well into his final years.

Arms