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Minutes Before Starting These Questions, Has Any Relevance to the Value, Function Or Effectiveness of London Power Appendix 2 London Assembly Environment Committee - Wednesday 24 February 2021 Transcript of Agenda Item 5 – London’s Green Recovery from COVID-19 – Greater London Authority (GLA) and London Councils Caroline Russell AM (Chair): [Mayor] Philip [Granville] is joining us on the next panel and I will also welcome Shirley Rodrigues, who is Deputy Mayor for Environment [and Energy] at the GLA; Elliot Treharne, who is Interim Assistant Director for Environment and Energy at the GLA; Peter Daw, who is Interim Assistant Director for Environment and Energy at the GLA; and once again Mayor Philip Glanville, who is Chair of the Transport and Environment Committee for London Councils. I am now going to invite Shirley to give a brief opening statement and then we will move on to Nicky Gavron [AM], who will be asking the first lot of questions. Shirley Rodrigues (Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Greater London Authority): First of all, I want to say thank you for the invitation and thanks to the Committee for your excellent work over this last term. At the risk of déjà vu, thanks to Assembly Members Nicky Gavron, Jennette Arnold and Tony Arbour, who are stepping down at this election after a rather unexpected and unwanted extension to their term. In terms of what we are going to be talking about today, as you know, the Mayor’s ambition is for London to be the greenest of all cities and we have set some very tough targets to meet: zero waste, zero carbon, the best air quality of any major world city, and thriving and green and biodiverse spaces. COVID-19 has not altered that ambition. What it has really highlighted is the critical role that environmental factors play in our environment and in our health and wellbeing. We know now that exposure to air pollution is linked to increased impacts from COVID-19. As we come out of lockdown, the Mayor is clear that the environment is going to be sitting at the heart of London’s recovery. The London Recovery Board (LRB), which is co-chaired by the Mayor of London and London Councils, has representatives of all London’s stakeholders, businesses, the public sector and academia. They all agree that we have to deal with our social and economic inequalities at the same time as our environmental ones. They see that because the environment brings huge opportunities for investment. It provides good skilled local jobs and long-term economic growth. It also brings resilience to the impacts of climate change, better public health and strong community cohesion. The environment has been embedded as one of the cross-cutting principles through the work of the LRB and the nine missions, one of which is the Green New Deal and we will come on to talk about that in a bit. We are already starting from a very good place. The Mayor has been showcasing what a green recovery could look like. We have very strong foundational policies and programmes through the work of the GLA and the various strategies from Planning, Transport and of course Environment. You will have seen many of our achievements. I am not going to go through all of them because they are too numerous to count, but I must mention that we have cleaned up our 9,000-strong core bus fleet to be compliant with the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). We have delivered 300 rapid charge points on target, which is going to support the greater electrification of our transport, which will help both air pollution and carbon emissions. Of course, we have introduced the world’s first ULEZ and we know that is being extended in October [2021]. It is already seeing nitrogen dioxide pollution reduced by 40% even before lockdown. We have our zero carbon homes standard, which has achieved 40% more carbon savings than required by building regulations and is being extended to all new development. We are supporting energy efficiency measures like rollouts of solar panels. We have been confirmed as the world’s first National Park City. We have improved over 400 hectares of green space and have supported many community projects, over 200, often through our Growing Back Greener Fund. We have of course planted more than 250,000 trees. I am not going to go through everything, but this is showcasing what a green recovery looks like. We want to use the LRB work to embed this in all of the nine missions and take that forward. Mayor Philip Glanville and I can talk about the work that we have been doing together on the Green New Deal, which is particularly embedded throughout all of the missions. The first of this is the £10 million of the Mayor’s Green New Deal Fund, which was announced last year, which is looking at targeting how we grow the low-carbon economy and double its size. One of the key features of this work is collaboration. We are working very closely with local authorities through their shovel-ready lists and co-designing with them, but not just with the local authorities but with many stakeholders across London: community groups and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are working on a whole host of issues from the environment through to health because they all have a part to play. On the circular economy, we have been working with the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWARB), which is a partnership between us and London Councils. That gives you a little bit of a flavour of the collaborative approach we are taking. I would just like to end - and Phil mentioned this as well - on the budget coming up. To meet the ambitions we have for London, not just the Mayor but all of us do need the powers and funding devolved to us to increase the pace of activity that we and Londoners are demanding. We do want to build back better. We are looking forward to the budget coming up and we hope the Government recognises the value in supporting London to the levelling-up agenda. Of course, we need to level up within London, too. I am looking forward to working with the Assembly Members on accelerating the action we need in London. I am happy to take any questions. Caroline Russell AM (Chair): Thank you. I will pass over to Nicky Gavron.. Nicky Gavron AM: Good afternoon, panel. My first question is for Shirley and for Philip. It is great to have you both here. First, how have the modifications been made to the Green New Deal? Have you been making any modifications? It was an ambition and an initiative before COVID. How in the course of the pandemic and COVID has it changed? Shirley Rodrigues (Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Greater London Authority): You are right. The Mayor had already said that he wanted to support a Green New Deal for London, seeing how important it was, but the pandemic has highlighted probably even more than we realise the inequalities faced in London, whether it is access to green space, air pollution, the impact on the economy or the social cohesion of the city. We know that many people have come together to support each other through the pandemic and that has shown us a way that we can build on. People want to see our lives not going back to what they were, and that we build on the good things that have been highlighted during this terrible period. Some of the things that we have had to do have been affected by funding. The funding levels that we wanted to spend on the Green New Deal have been affected by the fall in tax income. We are having to be much smarter and much more focused and targeted. We are targeting the work that we are doing. The projects that have been funded out of the Green New Deal have been built on, because we wanted to make a fast start on the shovel-ready list that London Councils has prepared, to identify where we can work in boroughs and take advantage and make a fast start on supporting jobs, and addressing some of the issues around green space and looking to see where we can do multiple things through single projects. The point of our work and, of course, the nine missions is to integrate so that we get health outcomes, economic outcomes and social outcomes. That is the main focus, really. Of course, the real focus is on jobs - as the Mayor says, “Jobs, jobs, jobs” - because we know the economic impact of the pandemic is hitting London very hard. The Green New Deal mission is about doubling the size of the low-carbon economy. The London Recovery Board (LRB) has its grand challenge of restoring confidence in London and supporting Londoners economically and socially. Mayor Philip Glanville (Chair of Transport and Environment Committee, London Councils): Very briefly, to echo what I said a little bit earlier about strong foundations and as Shirley has said, the Mayor had set out this ambition before the COVID crisis. Twenty-eight London boroughs declared climate emergencies. We took that into London Councils - before I was Chair, admittedly - and we developed a joint cross-party declaration. We now have seven workstreams working alongside the Green New Deal and within it and at the key touchpoints to make sure that what we are doing at a London-wide level is reflected in practice on the ground. What it has given, by bringing it together in the recovery mission, is a sense that it is all of London signing up to this.
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