Mayor needs to do homework as police numbers don’t add up

• Mr Khan blames government cuts, but he removed £38m from Met recruitment
• Police reduction numbers cannot be achieved as stated

Assembly Member Steve O’Connell said (in response to article in Guardian today):

“Whilst the Met should absolutely receive appropriate levels of funding, the Mayor does not help make the case for London if he uses questionable figures like these.

“Using Home Office statistics, police numbers would have to fall by over 1,000 every year until 2021. As cops cannot be sacked, the Mayor would need to reduce these numbers through natural wastage, i.e. as officers retire. Such a rate of natural wastage has never occurred before in the history of the Met, so his claims amount to nothing more than scaremongering.

“He also can’t blame the Government for the recent fall in police numbers. It was his own decision to cut £38m from this year’s recruitment budget that made maintaining staffing levels impossible.

“Yes the Met needs to receive appropriate levels of funding, but attacking the Government is not the best way to achieve this.”

 

Dutch-style 'plot-shops' key to increasing self-build development (report)

 

• Report urges Mayor to back creative self-build scheme
• Only 10% of UK housing development is self-build – despite recent positive legislation
• London Mayor encouraged to back roll out of innovative Plot Shop schemes across the Capital

A new report by London Assembly Member Shaun Bailey found self-build registrations have halved across London’s local authorities.

Self-build, which received a boost from changes in the law in 2015 and 2016, could help in the fight to build enough houses in the Capital for its growing population.

However, new research shows councils are failing to meet their obligations. Since 2016 only four serviced plots have been provided for the 4,852 registrants for self-build opportunities.

The report concludes that more needs to be done, and the Mayor should back an innovative scheme across London as part of a creative approach to the housing crisis.

A tried and tested scheme, which would see a network of ‘Plot Shops’ established across London, is proposed by Mr Bailey to address the decline in this building practice.

Widely used in the Netherlands and recently introduced in the UK, Plot Shops are an innovative way of selling building plots.

The stores allow buyers to easily browse available plots, view 3D models and artists’ impressions, as well as consult experts who are on hand for advice. Also included are Plot Passports which neatly include the main features, plans, designs, and permissions associated with a particular plot.

Among the report’s other recommendations are:

• Money from the Mayor’s housing budget can be used to set up the stores
• A dedicated hub website for the scheme, providing buyers with information about availability in their chosen geographical area
• A special Mayoral self-build scheme that utilises available land from the Greater London Authority and Transport for London 

London Assembly Member Shaun Bailey commented: “Plot shops are an innovative approach that makes self-build far more straightforward and accessible to the average person. They are an under-exploited way of providing new homes by allowing development to be funded directly by small builders.

“This report highlights the need for more effort in this area to provide another weapon in the armoury to combat the housing crisis.

“There is a great deal of potential in this area that we need to tap into. The Mayor is uniquely able to help promote self-build in London. He should consider implementing this innovative system as part of a creative approach to tackling one of London’s most serious problems.”

 

The full report – Plotting Your Future: Rolling out Plot Shops for self-builders can be downloaded here PlottingYourFuture

Emergency response performances plummet under Mayor’s Pathfinders trial

• Five trial boroughs are now worst performing in London
• Barking and Dagenham performance drops almost 30 per cent
• Pathfinders merger scheme started in April and could be rolled out across London

 

Police emergency response times have dramatically worsened in five boroughs merged under a trial conducted by the Mayor of London, latest figures show. Havering, Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge, Camden and Islington are now the five worst performing boroughs in London for emergency response times following the implementation of the Pathfinders scheme.

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T-charge launch: Scheme is ‘a £23million attack on London’s small businesses and poorest drivers’

• Mayor’s assessments show T-charge will have ‘negligible’ impact on air quality
• Expected to reduce poisonous gases by just 1-3%
• Charge will cost London’s poorest drivers £23million a year
• Small businesses and self-employed could be hammered by fees
• Mayor accused of ‘blowing smoke’ with T-charge effectiveness claims

 

The Mayor of London has ‘launched an attack on small businesses and London’s poorest drivers’ by introducing a road tax that ‘won’t make a dent’ in London’s harmful emissions.

Transport for London assessments show the T-charge will have a ‘negligible’ impact on air quality and is predicted to reduce NOx emissions by just 1-3%.

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Uber ban could cost Londoners £90million in higher fares

• Ban challenged by Uber in court appeal despite talks
• If Uber loses, Londoners face increased transport costs of up to £90 million
• A further £864 million in annual wages could be lost by Uber’s 40,000 drivers

 

Londoners could end up paying an extra £90million a year in taxi fares if Uber’s appeal against their ban in the capital is unsuccessful. The app-based firm is appealing TfL’s decision not to extend its licence and is involved in on-going talks with the operator.

But figures obtained by London Assembly member Andrew Boff showed that if a deal is not reached, the financial consequences for passengers and drivers will be far reaching. Excluding surge charging, the cost of an average 6.4-mile journey from Charing Cross to Hammersmith is £15 in a standard Uber, compared to £25 in a black cab.

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Sadiq Khan wants controversial rent controls that ‘could cut housing supply by 50,000’

• Evidence shows rent controls cause housing stock in cities to fall
• £4.5bn in rental revenue could be lost in London by 2025, research found
• Despite weight of evidence, Khan backs implementing scheme

Sadiq Khan has said he is in favour of controversial rent controls in London, despite a weight of evidence suggesting it could cut housing supply in the capital by 50,000.

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Police station closures increase journey times 400%

West London: Journeys to police stations could increase 400 per cent after closures, research shows

• Residents of Hammersmith, Kensington and Westminster face long walks under proposed closures
• Some journey times increase by 400%
• Fears over impact on vulnerable and less mobile

Residents in areas of west London could see a 400 per cent increase in the distance to their nearest police station under closures proposed by the Mayor of London, new research shows.

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Uber licence: Statement from Andrew Boff AM

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Dog-trafficking in London: New report exposes loophole allowing thousands of poorly-bred puppies to be imported from Europe

• Traffickers mass-importing sick young dogs for commercial sale
• One seller linked to 834 dog ads over 24-month period with potential income of £1.3million
• Most dogs trafficked from central and eastern Europe
• Vets in Lithuania and Hungary admit falsifying information on pet passports
• Puppies often bred in unhygienic conditions and carry hidden diseases
• Owners tricked into buying sick dogs that later have to be put down

Thousands of sick and poorly-bred puppies are being imported into London from Europe by dog traffickers exploiting a loophole in the law, a new report has found.

‘Sick Puppy’, by London Assembly member Steve O’Connell, exposes the shocking extent of the lucrative hidden trade operating in the capital.

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