London Assembly 25 March 2009 Ninth Mayor’S Report to the Assembly
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Item 3 London Assembly 25 March 2009 Ninth Mayor’s Report to the Assembly This is my ninth report to the Assembly, fulfilling my duty under Section 45 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. It covers the period 12 February to 11 March 2009. Executive Summary East London Line On 12 February, the Transport Secretary, Geoff Hoon, joined me at Clapham Junction Station to announce an agreement that will fund a new extension of the East London Line linking Surrey Quays on the East London Line extension to Clapham Junction in the south. This means that Phase two can now be constructed before the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Council Tax Freeze On 11 February, my first GLA budget was approved by the London Assembly. The budget will deliver an increase in frontline services and productivity, with an unprecedented freeze in the GLA’s share of the council tax. Priority Parks On 4 March, I revealed the top-ten winning parks, which thousands of Londoners have voted to each receive a £400,000 makeover. I also announced that Burgess Park in Southwark will get a £2million cash bonanza for a major revamp. First Steps On 3 March, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and I, unveiled a multi-million pound initiative which will deliver around 3,000 new affordable homes for Londoners and will also kick start my ‘First Steps’ (low cost home ownership) initiative. Policing and Community Safety Code of Conduct Statement I welcome the report of Jonathan Goolden. He concludes that I did not fail to comply with the Code of Conduct of the MPA and GLA and that I did not disclose confidential information, improperly confer and advantage or disadvantage or bring my office or authority into disrepute. On 4 March, the GLA Standards Committee also agreed to accept Jonathan Goolden’s report and recommendations. The Standards Committee also recommended that appropriate training 1 on the GLA and MPA Code of Conduct be made available and taken up by the Mayor and Mayor’s Office. I will now reflect on suggestions for the future on how to deal with extraordinary situations when they arise. I am happy to engage in the adoption of a protocol to cover the management of information by senior police officers, senior members and officers of the MPA and I in relation to a critical incident. I have cooperated fully with Mr Goolden’s investigation and am pleased that it has moved so swiftly to deal with the issues that were raised. I am however disappointed that this investigation has so far cost the taxpayer in excess of £11,000. What rightly matters to Londoners is what we do to make our streets safer from knife crime and violence and how we support businesses and individuals through the downturn and that is what I am giving my full attention to. Youth Violence I have responded to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Child and Youth Crime inquiry into the use of knives by young people, where I was able to outline my plans to tackle this problem in London. The inquiry heard that youth violence requires a multi-pronged approach. I was able to show how my plans, set out in Time for Action, aim to keep young people in school, to work more intensively with first time offenders in custody, to increase the numbers of apprenticeships and to provide young people in care with long-term mentors. While recent figures show that knife crime generally in London is down by over 13 per cent in the past year, young people are still too often both the victims and perpetrators. As Time for Action begins rolling out over the next few months, we will see more support for mechanisms to help these youngsters, before their lives go irretrievably wrong. Policing & Crime Bill I submitted a memorandum to the Policing & Crime Public Bill Committee, proposing a number of amendments aimed at improving local accountability and setting out a model for stronger regional and local policing accountability and leadership. I also commented on other elements of the Bill that are relevant to my responsibilities. These proposals include: • The Mayor of London be given powers to appoint and dismiss the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and to set force-wide priorities in a four-year Policing London Strategy; • Mayoral powers to appoint full MPA Membership; • London Assembly is given scrutiny-policing powers in the way it currently oversees Transport for London and the London Development Agency. Operation Ridgeway makes over 1,000 arrests More than 1,000 arrests were made as the result of Operation Ridgeway - a two phased operation that used high visibility patrols to combat anti-social behaviour and pickpocketing on London’s buses. 2 Phase One was carried out by the Metropolitan Police Service’s Transport Operational Command Unit (TOCU) and funded by Transport for London. It combated anti-social behaviour during the Halloween and Bonfire Night period. Up to two hundred officers were involved and made around 500 arrests. The second phase of the operation took place in the run up to Christmas and resulted in more than 600 arrests. This sort of operation has two clear goals. Firstly it makes it exceedingly plain to the pickpockets and badly behaved that they will not be tolerated on our buses. And secondly these patrols provide an important reassurance for the millions of law abiding passengers who should not have to suffer from the mindless behaviour of the few. Crackdown on Illegal Cabs in Central London On 20 and 21 February, the Metropolitan Police Service and Transport for London conducted “Operation Helvellyn” as part of a drive to tackle taxi touts in central London. Uniformed Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers patrolled hotspots to tackle touting and other cab related issues. They also offered advice to members of the public warning them that any minicab journey that is not booked through a licensed minicab operator is illegal, uninsured and unsafe. Bar and club managers whose venues attract high numbers of illegal cabs were also advised of the danger these cabs pose to their customers. The operation also involved Transport for London’s Public Carriage Office, checking on the activities of licensed drivers and operators, and the Vehicle & Operator Services Agency (VOSA) which carried out roadside safety checks of licensed taxis and private hire vehicles in the Strand and in Haymarket. The safety and security of people travelling around London is a top priority, and during the election I promised to crack down on the illegal touts that put the lives of Londoners and visitors in danger. Older People and Crime Conference My Deputy Mayor, Richard Barnes, formally opened and chaired on my behalf the Older People and Crime Conference at City Hall on 6 March. Other speakers included Steve Allen, the Acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Frances Davidson, the Chair of the Islington Mobility Forum for elderly and disabled people, Islington Neighbourhood Watch and Desmond Griffiths from the GLA’s peer Outreach team. As part of my electoral pledge to make London safer for older people, the conference looked at what additional action the GLA, the MPA, the MPS and other partners could take. Over 100 older people attended the Conference as well as senior local authority officers, older people’s champions, local councillors, community and voluntary sector groups, Safer Neighbourhood Teams, the British Transport Police and intergenerational groups. I have already taken a number of steps to make London safer. These include – • Increasing the number of uniformed presence on public transport, particularly buses, and has added an extra 440 PCSO’s to Safer Transport Teams; • Trailing live CCTV for 6 months on a selection of the worst bus routes for crime; and 3 • Launching ‘Time for Action’ which sets out a number of proposals to reduce youth crime and increase opportunities for young people. The Older People’s Action Plan was also launched at the event. The plan pulls together current actions that we are taking for older people across the entire GLA Group, not just on crime. It is a live document that will be updated by continually consulting with older people and interested bodies/partners. It is a statement of where we are at the moment and will evolve over the year ahead. LOPSG have been involved in the production of the document and aim to make it the theme of this year’s Older People Assembly in July 2009 so everyone attending can comment on it and help to develop it further. Transport The Bethnal Green Tube Disaster Memorial Service My Deputy Mayor, Richard Barnes, attended The Bethnal Green Tube Disaster Memorial Service on my behalf on 1 March. The service was held at St John’s Church in Bethnal Green and was followed by a blessing at the tube station. During the Second World War, Bethnal Green Underground Station was used as an underground air raid shelter. On the evening of 1 March 1943 at 8.17pm the air raid siren sounded in Bethnal Green indicating a forthcoming air raid. Hundreds of Londoners sought shelter in the Underground Station. At 8.27pm an anti aircraft rocket was launched nearby and because the sound was loud and unfamiliar it caused a panic in the shelter underground. A surge of people caused a large crush of some 300 people. 173 people lost their lives in the disaster including some 62 children. The disaster is the largest loss of life in a single incident on the London Underground network. Stansted Express to sell Visitor Oyster Cards On 17 February, Transport for London and Stansted Express announced a joint initiative enabling passengers to buy Visitor Oyster Cards when they purchase their train tickets at Stansted, allowing direct access to the Tube and bus network as soon as they arrive in London.