Mayor's Questions

The last but one Mayor's Questions took place on Wednesday morning. With only one more to before the election, the content was strongly political and some of the exchanges were quite heated. Interestingly, there was a whole crop of motions discussed at the end of the meeting.

London Travelwatch

With ten years since the creation of Travelwatch - under its more cumbersome title, The London Transport Users' Committee - I moved a motion seeking to set up a cross party review of their performance. This received support from the whole chamber and was also welcomed by the chair of Travelwatch in a letter sent to all Assembly Members.

The review will be set up by our Business Management Committee and will examine the relationship between Travelwatch and the Assembly, particularly the respective roles of our Transport Committee and Travelwatch, which have tended to overlap in the past. The cost of running Travelwatch and the split between its statutory and discretionary activities will also be considered.

Meanwhile, Travelwatch are coming to Romford where they will be hosting a local transport surgery on Friday 5th March. More details are available from their website, http://www.londontravelwatch.com/ .

London City Airport

Labour Member Murad Qureshi, moved a motion which was critical of Newham's Council and the Mayor for their decision to allow the expansion of London City Airport, and requested a review of the decision at Mayoral level. I have suggested that Murad's Environment Committee conducts a scrutiny of London City Airport and this is going to take place in the coming year.

Speakers from all sides weighed in to support the motion and I made the point that complaints of overflying are increasing in my own constituency. Elm Park, South Hornchurch and Wanstead are particularly affected by aircraft noise and this is only going to get worse. I fear that, left unchecked, a Heathrow situation could develop in North East London and it will be very hard to reverse.

The motion was also approved with cross party support.

Peoples' Question Time

It hardly seems any time at all since we visited Brixton with Boris and had items thrown at the stage. Hopefully the next public meeting will be more even tempered. It takes place at Harrow School next Wednesday evening. Full details at http://www.london.gov.uk/ .

Another Confirmation Hearing

In the recent reshuffle, Kit Malthouse was appointed Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, replacing Boris. This afternoon he spent almost two hours being grilled by the Assembly's cross party hearings committee.

It was an accomplished performance. Since we first interviewed him almost two years ago Kit has really grown into the policing role. He has also become calmer under fire and at no stage did he give the impression of being even slightly rattled.


Priorities

Kit listed his policing priorities as:

Dealing with violence, including knife crime, disorder and domestic violence. He felt that violent crime was the greatest cause of fear in the city and was determined to clamp down on offenders.

Tackling burglary, which had increased over the year, particularly in suburban boroughs. He was confident that the crime wave had peaked and was declining following the arrest of several prolific offenders.

Cutting 'social crime' including hate crimes perpetrated against elements of our community. Whilst the police could deal with the criminals, Kit felt that a wider response across other agencies was important.

Managing the budget, in the face of tightening resources. Kit felt that the MPA board could do with a few more accountants, whilst accepting that financial prudence would not make meetings 'exciting'. A falling budget coupled with falling crime was the combination he was aiming for, but an increase in either would be bad news.

Preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games which present a unique policing challenge although fewer officers might be needed than originally envisaged.


For the MPA, Kit had three priorities:

It needed to be more relevant to Londoners.

The relationship with the Met Police was 'semi detached' and should be improved.

The organisation could do with a higher profile to improve its accountability.


The terrorist threat was still very real but Kit said that dealing with it should not distract police from the day to day work of cutting crime - a subtle but welcome change of emphasis.


New Structures

A lot of time was taken up discussing possible new structures for managing the police. With the Conservatives examining alternatives, a change of government would lead to changes across the country as well as in London. Kit favoured separating executive control from scrutiny, with the former carried out by a police board appointed by the Mayor and the latter becoming a key responsibility of the London Assembly. In this situation the Assembly would constitute a policing committee to take responsibility for the work.

He valued the expertise of the independent MPA members but worried that a lack of democratic accountability created a division between them and the Assembly Members currently on the board. Generally boards should comprise all elected or all appointed members.


Operation Herald

There were questions about plans to civilianise work in custody suites. The operation expected to release some 900 officers from current duties, with around half of those going back on patrol. Civilianisation would also reduce the custody suite reception time from four to just one hour, allowing patrols to return to duty more swiftly.

Kit also wanted to see a growth in the number of special constables - fully warranted officers who would be used on patrol and provide a vital link with their own communities. He undertook to maintain neighbourhood teams and street patrols, reassuring Londoners in the face of claims that they would be cut.


Time Commitment

Members had some questions about the pressure on Kit's time. In addition to this role he is a deputy mayor, Assembly Member for West Central, and he chairs the Mayor's Hydrogen Partnership, as well as having private business interests and promoting the case for the 'Boris Island' estuary airport. Kit is a genuine workaholic and the committee were satisfied that he could take on the extra commitment.

We were pleased to recommend his appointment on a cross party basis.

More Burning Issues

This morning the Fire Authority's performance management and community safety panel met to review how the Brigade are doing against their key targets.

Fire Fatalities

The long trend downward in the number of fatalities was ended in 2009 with the tragic Southwark fire. This incident prompted a one off review of deaths in accidental dwelling fires over the last decade.

52% of victims were over 60 years old and 75% were white, with an equal male / female split. In half the cases there was no working smoke alarm which indicates that there is still work to be done in getting the message across that smoke alarms save lives and they should be checked regularly to ensure they work. I have personal experience of this:

At the end of a stressful day in London Government, I like to relax in a warm bath with scented candles flickering on the window sill. One evening last year I blew them out before retiring to bed but some smouldering sparks must have remained. At two in the morning I was woken by a loud bang from the bathroom followed by my smoke alarm creating a racket that could not be ignored. I discovered a small pot of candles well alight which had cracked in the heat - hence the bang. Controlling my panic I soaked a towel and threw it over the flames, then filled the bath with cold water and dumped the whole bundle in it, opened the window to let the smoke out and returned to bed. The smoke alarm did its job, not just for me but for the neighbouring flats too.

Well I digress, but note that 9.5% of fatal fires are started by candles and matches, although very few start in the bathroom...

The most common cause of fatal fires is smoking - responsible for 38.9% of deaths. Much of the problem is caused by smoking in bed, and alcohol can play a part too. Fatal fires are more likely to start at night and 32% start in the bedroom, which is usually where the victim is. During the day fires usually start in the kitchen - with cooking the main cause - but these are less often fatal. Smoking in bed should always be avoided.

Over the decade the boroughs with the highest number of fatalities per 100,000 population were Camden (0.93), Lewisham (0.91) and Hackney (0.91). Our local boroughs were both in the lowest five with Redbridge (0.4) and Havering (0.39) only outperformed by Barking & Dagenham with (0.27) - not that all is rosy in that borough as we discovered later.

Automatic Fire Alarms

The Brigade has a particular problem with automated alarm systems that malfunction, leading to repeat false alarms. The new policy is to seek confirmation that there is a real fire before dispatching fire crews to the scene, usually by speaking to the occupants or managers of the building. If there is no sign of a fire an investigator is sent initially to establish the cause of the alarm, followed up by fire crews if necessary.

The Brigade is agreeing a memorandum of good practice with the Hilton Hotel group in London but work is still needed on other sites, with the NHS posing a particular challenge because of the size and complexity of the capital's hospitals.

The aim is to save time and money, allowing firefighters to be sent to incidents where their skills are actually needed.

Stuck in Lifts

Another unnecessary drain on Brigade resources is caused by calls from people who have become stuck in lifts. Last year the Fire Brigade decided to adopt a policy of checking by phone before attending. In the first instance the responsibility for getting people out of lifts now rests with the maintenance engineers and managing agents of residential blocks.

The new policy met with some criticism at the time, but it is applied sensitively and urgent cases, including those involving people who are seriously unwell or in imminent danger, still get an emergency response. If the maintenance engineers cannot be contacted the Brigade will attend but will not treat the incident as an emergency.

From November 2009 a charging policy was introduced. In cases where there have been ten attendances within twelve months the building's owners will now be charged £260 plus VAT for each subsequent call out. Quite an incentive to properly maintain the lifts, or so one would think...

However, since November four locations have already used up their ten 'free calls' and are into charging territory. Standing out from the list is Barking & Dagenham's very own 'tower of shame', Hawkwell House. They have been charged for an amazing seven call outs in addition to their 'free ten' since November!

By my calculation that's £260 X 7 = £1,820 plus VAT that the council has shelled out in less than three months. Someone should tell the voters.

Confirmation Hearings

This afternoon saw the confirmation hearings for two of the Mayor's most recent appointees. Assembly Members posed questions to the candidates and made recommendations about their suitability for their respective roles.


James Cleverly

First in the Big Chair was AM for Bexley & Bromley, James Cleverly. Elected to the Assembly by over 100,000 of his constituents, it would be a brave Member who questioned their judgement.

James is due to take up his new role as Chairman of the London Waste and Recycling Board, and he has spent the last couple of weeks reading up on an area of policy in which he had no previous experience. With both Bexley and Bromley in the top five London Boroughs for recycling, he could do worse than learn from the examples on his own doorstep.

It was an impressive performance. James urged a new focus on reducing waste at source and on viewing the waste that was produced as valuable material. To achieve this work needed to be done to further stimulate the market for recycled metals, plastics and paper, so that these could be effectively reused, not shipped abroad or surreptitiously returned to landfill.

For non recyclable waste, incineration would remain the dominant method of disposal, with major plants at Edmonton, Lewisham and Belvedere able to process large volumes. At these locations energy was already being generated as a by product, but James also saw the possibility of distributing heat in local networks.

In the longer term new technologies such as anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis and gasification would come on stream but he wanted to avoid committing to any one of these in a field where technology was advancing swiftly.

James has strong views "I'm a Conservative, so I want to cut waste!" and he defended his lack of expertise by pointing out that there hasn't been a defence minister with military experience for many years - although I'm not sure he was presenting Bob Ainsworth as a shining example...

James has got a background in the army, and it shows in his approach to achieving objectives. As the Mayor's youth ambassador he delivered concrete results and he promises the same here. He is good at motivating people and his consensual approach will help him in a field which is crowded with competing stakeholders. The committee was pleased to approve his appointment.


Reshard Auladin

Next up was the newly appointed MPA Vice Chairman, Reshard Auladin. Reshard has been a magistrate in Enfield for over 20 years and was first appointed to the Metropolitan Police Authority on its formation back in 2000. His MPA role survived the change of Mayors in 2008.

Reshard saw the main challenges facing the organisation as improving the management of resources and helping the MPA board to become more coherent and consensual. He currently leads on professional standards and performance management and he sees his new role as remaining focused on those areas.

Professional standards includes the vital task of weeding out corrupt officers and Reshard felt that recent headlines had demonstrated that there was still plenty to be done, although Londoners could be assured that the MPA takes corruption seriously.

He was concerned about the influence exerted by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Association of Police Authorities (APA), feeling that the decisions made by these national bodies did not always consider the unique factors at play in the capital.

Suggestions that the MPA could be abolished worried him, he said, because abolition could herald a greater degree of political interference, and would threaten the specialist contribution provided by independent members.

Reshard is a calm and impressive performer who has survived changes in administrations and can build consensus across the political spectrum. The committee was pleased to recommend his appointment.

An Admirer...

I was given this with my coffee in Pret this morning. Their excellent customer service has hit a new high...

New Fire Station

This morning Boris visited Harold Hill to open the new fire station - the first built in London since the GLA was created in 2000.

This opening marks the culmination of years of campaigning from local residents. Back in 2000 reorganisation of the Fire Brigade led to the removal of a fire appliance from Hornchurch Fire Station. There was bitter opposition in Havering and I presented a petition to the Fire Authority in early 2001. Five years later the new London Safety Plan was published, providing statistics on attendance times. Havering was performing much worse than the other London boroughs.

The case for replacing the fire engine was clearly made, but there was a problem. In the intervening years a new vehicle had been stationed at Hornchurch, providing specialist services to deal with road traffic accidents. With sections of the A12, A13 and even the M25 in Havering, the new vehicle was very busy saving lives and could not be moved.

The solution - build a brand new fire station in a location with easy access to the road network.

Harold Hill Fire Station shares a site with the local police base, paving the way for London's emergency services to work more closely together. The building is equipped with rainwater collection tanks and other modifications that will ensure energy and water efficiency. It provides 28 new fire fighting jobs and there have been plenty of applications from staff who want to work at the site.

Boris threw caution to the wind, sliding down the station's pole before unveiling the plaque and declaring the station open.

Mayor's Budget Approved

I've just come out of this morning's meeting of the Assembly which saw the mayor take questions on his budget for an hour, followed by a debate around the alternatives proposed by the four parties. To amend the budget a majority of two thirds of the members is required.


Conservative Amendment

We support the mayor's budget which achieves an unprecedented council tax freeze for the second year running. However we suggested that in a year when many councils are cutting their costs, a similar gesture from the Assembly would be timely - in this case a 10% reduction in each group's political support budget. Unfortunately no support from the other groups, particularly the Greens who overspent this year...


Labour Amendment

In ten years this is the first time that Labour have moved a budget amendment. Highlights included:

£85,000 for an 'Uprise' anti racist music festival.
£40,000 for a London Rail Board.
£2,800,000 for speed cameras.

Funded by a raid on the Fire Brigade reserves and £15,000,000 income from retaining the Western Extension to the Congestion Charge Zone.

Labour support and Green abstention was insufficient to get this proposal adopted.


Lib Dem Amendment

The Lib Dems took an unusual tack by proposing to cut the council tax, largely by raiding the Fire Brigade reserves and saving £18,000,000 by retaining bendy buses on routes 18 and 149.

Spending proposals included £450,000 to embroider numerals and name badges on police officers' uniforms and £300,000 to develop a recycling scheme for bicycles.

Lib Dem support and Green abstention was also insufficient to get this approved.


Green Amendment

The small Green group proposed a more familiar budget:

£2,800,000 for speed cameras.
£3,000,000 for 20mph zones.
£4,000,000 for low carbon zones.

With savings achieved by retaining bendy buses, keeping the Congestion Charge Western Extension, cancelling work to improve traffic flow and cutting police overtime.

Nobody but the Greens supported this alternative.


BNP

For the most important vote of the year, the one occasion when the Assembly can actually wield its power, Richard Barnbrook was..........................................................ABSENT.


So the second 'Boris Budget' passes unamended and council tax is frozen for another year. We are urging the Mayor to commit to freezes for the rest of his term of office - or better still, reductions.

Waste Strategy Unwrapped

This morning the environment committee turned its attention to the mayor's draft strategy for managing London's waste.

Environment policy advisor Isabel Dedring was - as usual - well briefed and committed to cleaning up a city which presents big future challenges. Industrial decline will lead to less waste being produced but the volume of municipal waste will continue to grow. A major target in the new strategy is to reduce the amount of household waste by 10% by 2020, an ambitious aspiration which is to be achieved by providing better information to householders and co-operating with large retailers to cut packaging.


A Varied City

London trails behind other regions in managing its municipal waste, with 49% still going to landfill. Whilst the challenge is greater as no other region is as urbanised as London, the witnesses also felt that some of the boroughs could have done more to encourage recycling. A beacon performer is the London Borough of Bexley - my colleague Gareth Bacon AM is the responsible cabinet member - where officers regard recyclates as valuable materials rather than waste.

In Bexley markets for paper, plastics, tins and glass are exploited to produce a revenue stream for the authority. They believe that they cannot afford not to offer recycling facilities.


Tiny Flats

Elsewhere more densely populated boroughs face the difficulty of encouraging recycling in blocks of flats. Bexley offer their suburban residents two wheelie bins and three different boxes to segregate their waste, but cramped apartments do not provide sufficient space for such luxuries. Residents wouldn't welcome five separate trips down the stairs with their bins when one black bag will suffice. Also the lack of gardens means there is no green waste, so the potential for recycling is lower. The good news is that flat owners tend to create less waste than large households.


Bury?

For waste that cannot be recycled the traditional options have been landfill or incineration.

Landfill takes place outside London - the one exception being the site at Rainham - and the counties are unhappy about this continuing. A proscriptive landfill tax is going to make itself felt in coming years, providing a financial incentive for boroughs to reduce that 49% figure.


Or Burn?

Incineration has traditionally played a significant role in London's waste disposal. Major incinerators at Edmonton and Lewisham have now been joined by the new plant at Belvedere which was held up by local opposition for many years. Outer London boroughs are no keener on disposing of Inner London's waste than the counties.

Incinerators carry a large capital cost so they need to be large if they are to pay for themselves. This in turn creates a demand that must be fed and perversely discourages attempts to recycle elements of their waste stream. Often the most easily recycled plastics and paper also provide the most calorific energy if incinerated, generating electricity and heat as useful by-products.

The London plants produce electricity but the heat currently goes to waste and the experts wanted to see pipe networks put in place to provide heating for nearby communities. Ultimately the most efficient option was to site incinerators close to major energy users - for example prisons or data centres - to minimise losses incurred in the transmission of heat and power over distances.


Or Something Else?

Much of the new technology for waste disposal is now proven and available. Options such as pyrolysis, gasification and anaerobic digestion take longer than incineration but are more carbon efficient. The time factor means that the plants require higher levels of staffing and labour costs present more of a problem than capital - so high waste streams are not required and recycling is not discouraged.

Isabel explained that the profusion of disposal sites envisaged in the old plan had been reduced and there was no longer an attempt to 'pick winners' from a suite of options that were still evolving. The intention was to use existing waste disposal or transfer sites for new plants rather than seeking permission for new sites. This is good news for householders who are never keen to have their waste handled on their own doorsteps.

Budget Committee Work Programme

This morning we met to discuss the activities of the budget and performance committee in the coming year. In March we will be hearing from witnesses about the indistinct Olympic legacy - will East London benefit from new housing, a massive urban park and a glittering new economic settlement, or will we be saddled with a debt mountain and a collection of white elephants?

Subjects for consideration at later meetings were discussed but no final conclusion was reached. There was enthusiasm for digging into a number of matters:

Fare increases - would the rise in bus fares lead to a reduction in passenger numbers? If passengers were discouraged, how would they travel instead?

Policing - with the obvious shortcomings of using staff numbers as an indicator, how would we judge the performance of the Met in future?

Organising For Delivery - had the reduction in staff numbers at City Hall impaired the function of the core GLA?

Low income Londoners - how would services for the most needy be preserved in the newly cost conscious culture?

London Travelwatch - is London's transport watchdog providing value for money?

It is an interesting list, but very focused on the activities of the Mayor. Not unexpected, as the Assembly is responsible for scrutinising the executive arm, but our experience of Mayor led scrutiny during the 2000 - 2004 term was mixed. The 2004 - 2008 Assembly programme examined issues of wider interest to Londoners, and the Assembly was given greater credit for its effectiveness during that period.

Resolutions

At the weekend I received an email from a friend who coaches senior managers. He claims that the vast majority of New Year resolutions are forgotten before the end of January - the 21st being the average date - and he suggests that we should reaffirm them at the start of February.

This year my own resolutions were quite basic:

Save money - in January I lost money.

Lose weight - in January I put weight on.

Clean up my flat - I'm not ready to welcome visitors just yet.

Resume regular blogging - the lack of progress is all too obvious. Rog T even suggests I have been gagged by CCHQ...

So I'm turning over a new leaf in February. It's salads for lunch and back to the gym, which is already looking less crowded than earlier in the year. Less eating out, less gratuitous spending, and more blogging of course. The charm offensive begins tomorrow morning when Dave Hill interviews me for one of his podcasts.

Meanwhile, does anyone know a good cleaner?

Gordo in Panto

Last night saw the annual Redbridge Mayor's charity pantomime at the Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford. The cast put on a stunning performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs complete with wonderful costumes, colourful sets and polished dance routines.

The company have a history of including gentle political digs during the evening and this was no exception. There were disparaging references to Arsenal Football Club and the town of Dagenham which I will not repeat here. Romford was also immortalised in popular song (to the tune of Barry Manilow's Copecobana)

At Romford, Romford Market,
If you take your car you can park it...

Then there was the obligatory ghost scene. Three men in a large, spooky bed and the Dame urges the audience to shout if they see anything Really Horrible. Cue the cries of IT'S BEHIND YOU !!

On this occasion the ghost appeared from a cupboard wearing a Gordon Brown mask. The audience all laughed, except for Labour members who looked as if they really had seen something frightening.

Once you are lampooned in panto there is no way back. This sort of humour is usually reserved for low grade celebrities, precisely because the audience is non political. The last time I saw it happen to a politician the target was David Blunkett, and he was gone in days...

LDA Question Time

Today it was the turn of the troubled London Development Agency to face questions from the whole Assembly. Chairman Harvey McGrath and Chief Executive Peter Rogers faced a gruelling session which began with my colleague Andrew Boff asking What difference would Londoners notice if the LDA did not exist? A blunt question but the organisation was set up by New Labour in 2000, and it's absence was not remarked upon before then...


Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Harvey McGrath admitted that the LDA could surrender many of its functions to other bodies - with consequent cost savings. Grant giving could be taken on by the London Councils grant committee, skills training could be taken on by the new London Skills Council, land ownership and administration could be carried out by the GLA itself from City Hall.

However the witnesses pointed to progress being made in reforming the organisation with a demanding new board - who are certainly not slaves to the mayor - and plans to outsource elements of financial management. These would be lost if the LDA was broken up.


Business Support

Support for business had been somewhat haphazard and the recession meant this could no longer continue. The LDA were focusing their efforts on programmes with a record of success and discarding the less effective initiatives. The witnesses were keen to point out that many government sponsored programmes were also not targeted effectively.

In meetings with small businesses over the last year I have heard complaints about the current Business Link service in London - too bureaucratic, impractical, hard to access and generally not relevant to much of the sector. Peter Rogers accepts that the service could be much better and the LDA intend to relet the contract. However the size of the contract and uncertainty over the future direction of policy had led them to postpone the tendering process until after the General Election - yet another reason why London needs an election as soon as possible.


Banker Exodus

Harvey McGrath - himself a leading figure in the finance sector - was keenly questioned by Labour members seeking to dispel rumours that the industry was leaving London to avoid the government's populist banker tax. He admitted that he knew of no institutions who were planning to leave, although many of their more highly paid employees were packing their bags. As one of London's main attractions is its expertise in financial services he hoped that large numbers of professionals would choose to stay, or their employers would eventually be forced to follow them - let's hope they like snow.


And Finally...

The meeting concluded with the usual knockabout debates around motions - we criticise the government, Labour criticise the mayor with support from their Lib Dem and Green Mini Me's.

However the final motion received cross party support, calling upon the planning and housing committee to investigate fire safety in timber framed tall buildings. This follows two recent fires which devastated partly built blocks in Southwark and a similar fire in Colindale some years ago. As a former planning committee chairman at Havering, I was often concerned about granting permission for large timber framed blocks of flats, but planning law and government policies - pile 'em high, sell 'em expensive - prevented consideration of fire safety issues. I look forward to the findings of this investigation.

Budget Consultation Begins

This morning Boris appeared at the Budget and Performance Committee to take questions about his 2010/11 budget proposals. Chaired by John Biggs, the meeting was good natured, perhaps reflecting optimism at the start of what promises to be an eventful year.


Precept Frozen Again

The headline is that the council tax precept is to be frozen at zero for the second year running. It's not just about money - as Lib Dem leader Mike Tuffrey admitted there is an equality aspect too, because council tax places a disproportionate burden on some Londoners. Pensioners on fixed incomes are particularly affected.

Boris was pleased to announce a saving of £55 million, with band D council tax now £18 less than it would have been under the previous mayor's spending plans. City Hall staffing had been reduced by around 180 posts following the Organising For Delivery review conducted in his first year.

Last year the Assembly passed a motion welcoming the council tax freeze, with Labour support. They also supported Ken Livingstone who raised the precept by over 150% during his two terms, so their overall position is unclear. John Biggs was keeping his powder dry this morning, giving no sign of Labour's plans for this year.


The Case For London

Boris was characteristically robust in his support for Crossrail. He pointed out that cancelling the project would send a very negative signal about London's recovery and would save a relatively small amount of cash. With the election approaching and large spending cuts inevitable, the Mayor will be lobbying both the main parties to secure support for Crossrail. Dealing with a Parliament where many Northern MPs feel that London gets a disproportionate share of investment can be challenging - as I recall from my own appearance at the Transport Select Committee following the Metronet collapse.

On the troubled PPP front history is repeating itself, with Tubelines now in conflict with London Underground over payments. The PPP arbiter has ruled that LU should pay £400 million more than they estimated but this sum still falls well short of Tubelines' demands. Potentially the passengers could find themselves picking up the extra costs of Gordon Brown's imposed scheme. Boris will be trying to secure the money from government funds.

Despite subsidy reductions, Boris was keen not to cut the bus network. He referred to his decision last year to save the bus route serving Havering-Atte-Bower, a lifeline particularly in the current snowy weather, however not all the bus routes introduced under Ken Livingstone's reign have proved popular and there may be an opportunity to review some of these routes if the network needs to be pruned.


The Process

The Committee will now draw up its response to the budget consultation. As this has to be agreed by all parties it is likely to contain requests for more detailed information rather than political fireworks.

The proposals will then be debated at a meeting of the full Assembly, with Boris answering questions. Alternative proposals may be tabled - only the Lib Dems and the Greens did this last year - and voted on. The budget itself only requires the support of a third of the Assembly's 25 members to pass unamended,

Boris Comes To Ilford

Happy New Year everyone - I hope that 2010 brings you all you desire (in the case of political opponents almost all you desire).

And we are starting with some excitement as Boris is visiting Redbridge for one of his popular public meetings. This time the debate will focus on improving the environment both locally and globally. With the Mayor's environment strategies under review there should be plenty to talk about.

Joining Boris on the panel will be:

Isabel Dedring, the Mayor's environment advisor.
Cllr Keith Prince, leader of Redbridge Council.
Nick Crane, CPRE.
Lucy Siegle, environment correspondent at The Observer.

And I will be chairing the event.

The meeting takes place on Monday 18th January, at the Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford. Proceedings commence at 7pm and conclude at 8:30pm.

Tickets are free from the theatre box office on 020 8553 4466 and further details can be obtained at http://www.london.gov.uk/ . There is room for 500 people in the venue so this promises to be a lively and informative session.

Barkingside Councillors Go Online

The spread of internet campaigning continues, and the most recent team to go online are the Conservative Action Team for Barkingside. You can catch up with Cllr Keith Prince, Cllr Ashley Kissin and Mrs Tania Solomon at http://www.barkingsideaction.com/ .

Boris in Ilford

This morning Boris visited Ilford Fire Station to switch on the new solar panels which are set to provide a large part of the power the station needs.


GLA Leads The Way

The station's energy overhaul has enabled it to save over 40% of its carbon emissions. A further nine fire stations, ten police stations and 22 TfL buildings have made changes allowing them to save on average 27% of their carbon emissions - and even more importantly, over one million pounds from the public sector fuel bill. Another 58 buildings are scheduled for modification but unfortunately many of the older fire and police stations do not lend themselves to the programme. Eight percent of London's emissions come from public buildings so there is considerable scope to make further savings. The NHS has expressed an interest in adopting the LDA led project for their buildings.

And of course saving fuel saves money...


Ilford High Road

On the walk back to the station the Mayor was joined by local councillors and Toby Boutle, the Conservative candidate for Ilford South. The reception from locals was overwhelmingly positive, belying Labour claims that 'the honeymoon is over'.

Boris visited several small businesses and was pleased to hear that in their experience, customer numbers were rising despite Labour's recession. The London economy has been more robust than the national position and it is good to see that the effect has spread to outer London as well as the centre.

The Mayor also encountered a group from the Aldborough Hatch Defence Association, protesting about the abandonment of lift works at Newbury Park. TfL have left the Central Line station in a terrible mess and just at a time when passenger numbers are rising due to the regular weekend closures of the main line to Liverpool Street. we have transport questions next week and I will be seeking some answers from Boris...

Fire Trends - and Boats

The Fire Authority's Performance Management and Community Safety Panel met yesterday afternoon. Interesting reports concerning trends and risks often get an airing here. There were a couple of 'burning issues' this time:


Weather and Risk

Some of this seems like common sense, but extreme weather conditions do lead to a rise in incidents for the brigade to attend:

Extreme cold causes frozen pipes to burst or overflow, leading to an increase of flooding incidents.

High temperatures can cause lifts to break down, leading to a larger number of calls to people trapped in lifts.

Hot, dry periods lead to an increase in open land fires, particularly a problem in outer London.

Strong winds, most often experienced in the autumn, lead to more calls to make safe damaged buildings and structures.

Storms with heavy rainfall cause unpredictable cases of localised flooding, usually as a result of inadequate drainage.

And of course some occasions and events cause a peak in call outs. The most obvious is bonfire night, and where this falls in the middle of the week - like this year - the incidents occur on adjacent Saturday nights as well.


Fireboats

The Brigade operates two fireboats from a floating fire station at Lambeth. The boats are slower than those used by other emergency services but they have fire fighting pumps and a shallow hull which allows them to operate right up to the river bank. They work closely with the police, RNLI and Port of London Authority rescue boats.

Last year the fireboats attended 49 fires and 53 false alarms but the majority of their work - 164 callouts - was classified as 'special services', in effect rescues which don't involve fires. Special services include sinking or drifting boats, cars in the river, people falling in the river or trapped in the tidal mud, people threatening to jump from bridges and - sadly - the retrieval of bodies from the water.

At one time the fireboats had to deal with industrial and warehouse fires but with the transformation of the river banks and the growth of residential properties, the fire threat has receded. Most of the new properties are accessible by land and fire engines can often reach them more swiftly than the boats.

Nevertheless, the fireboats and their crews still play an essential part in keeping the Thames safe.

Ambush at the Academy

Over a thousand people attended last nights Question Time, the third such experience for Boris Johnson and assembly Members elected in 2008.

The venue was the O2 Academy in Brixton, more often the scene of concerts and sell out music performances. The room was so large that it was difficult to see people at the back and the acoustics on stage were truly awful. We were reduced to lip reading colleagues on the large screen as we certainly couldn't hear what they were saying.

Local Member Val Shawcross did a good job of chairing a session that became unruly at times, although it wasn't as disorderly as the last session in Bethnal Green. A large contingent of 'Save the South London Line' protestors turned up, some wearing campaign T shirts, and Val can perhaps be forgiven for squeezing every last drop of publicity out of their attendance, calling transport chairman Caroline Pidgeon to lay into the mayor over his 'lack of action'.

The tenants of Offley Works also made a return, demanding public money to keep their dance studio open. James Cleverly made an effort to explain the LDA's position and the limits on the budget, but the hecklers demonstrated that they weren't really interested in the answer. At Bethnal Green some members thought the Offley people were admirably feisty but their behaviour last night probably did their case more harm than good.


Policing

In response to a question about his recent crime fighting episode, Boris supported Londoners stepping in to prevent crime - using their judgement and proportionate force of course - and he hoped that the police would support public spirited individuals. Policing supremo, Kit Malthouse was nodding during these comments, which is a good sign.

The claim by female MPs that public transport is too dangerous for them to use at night was also given short shrift. Many other female - and male - workers commute late at night and they don't require a second home in town. Public transport is relatively safe but it is the walk home from the station or bus stop where danger is greatest.

The mayor reassured Londoners that recent comparisons with 'The Wire' were groundless. London's murder rate is less than a tenth of the rate in Baltimore where the popular TV series is based.

In response to the question 'Should police take more action against drug dealers?' the audience voted 82% in favour and 18% against. A surprisingly high number turning down a reasonable proposition. The borough commander was present and hopefully he has taken note.


Transport

The South London Line campaigners made their presence felt at this point and there were also complaints about the fare rises. Val obligingly cued up Assembly Members from the three opposition parties to attack the mayor in succession. The myth that the fare gap could be plugged by retaining the congestion charge Western Extension and emissions based vehicle charging had clearly gained traction.

Cyclists also raised questions about safety on the roads. One poor girl had been run over by a dustcart, another had been hit by a bus. Boris encouraged cyclists to stop in front of vehicles at junctions, where they could be seen, rather than tucking themselves away in the left hand gutter. The first girl said she was lucky to be alive and would not be cycling in London again, and I can't blame her.

Val's question concluding this section was 'Do you support the removal of the Western Extension?' to which 66% responded 'no' and 34% said 'yes'. As the WEZ doesn't cover Brixton, all this really demonstrated was that people support taxes as long as someone else is paying them - twelve years of New Labour were based on that premise.


Environment

This section of the meeting was hijacked by the Offley Works protestors so the environment didn't get much of an outing at Brixton. Val concluded with the question 'Should the mayor impose housing targets on London boroughs?' to which 76% said 'yes' and 24% said 'no'. I suspect the answer would have been very different in Havering or Redbridge.


Olympics

Several people suggested that the Olympics was a waste of money and with even Tessa Jowell claiming that the bid looked less attractive once the recession had bitten, this view is gaining ground. Having won the bid it's a bit difficult to renege on it now so we are faced with soldiering on towards the fateful 2012 deadline, whilst trying to rally enthusiasm during tough times. Labour have spotted a potential source of disaffection and Val highlighted it by asking 'Should there be discount tickets for Londoners?' with 79% agreeing and 21% in disagreement.

The meeting tailed off with several general questions but people were already leaving the hall. At the end some of the audience formed a scrum to meet Boris who still retains his media star popularity. The honeymoon is over, particularly amongst public sector opinion formers, but a lot of voters warm to the mayor personally and feel he is doing a good job in trying circumstances.

The Members also got to speak to some of the audience. One smiling man shook me by the hand 'Thank you for all your support, you're doing a great job Mr Biggs.'...

Spotlight on Heathrow

This morning the Environment Committee took evidence from experts on the controversial Heathrow third runway proposal. In the green corner were Cllr Barbara Reid representing the M2 group of councils and John Stewart from HACAN. In the commercial corner were BAAs directors of corporate responsibility and airport communications.


Noise

Noise was the main concern for members. The government use 2002 as the baseline year for measuring trends but as this was the last year of Concorde's operation there is concern that successive years do not compare fairly. Concorde was a very noisy aircraft, with an effect equal to 120 Boeing 757s, so measuring against 2002 leaves room for more flights without compromising the headline downward trend.

Use of the 57 decibel contour was also challenged as this defined an area which didn't include Putney and Fulham - places where aircraft noise levels generate many complaints. Less than 300,000 people fall within the contour but HACAN estimate that more than twice that number are affected.

BAA highlighted the phasing out of noisy, polluting planes, including Concorde, which would ensure less noise pollution in future.


Air Quality

Witnesses from the Environment Agency admitted that the 2010 air quality targets for the UK would be failed, resulting in large fines for the Government. BAA explained the measures they were taking to reduce pollution.

At Heathrow much of the pollution comes from vehicles taking passengers and workers to the airport. BAA were working to encourage green vehicles within the airport perimeter and had measures in place to encourage public transport use. 41% of journeys to the airport used public transport and this was one of the highest figures in Europe. The committee were still concerned that more could be done and suggested lowering the Heathrow Express fares to encourage more passengers. BAA were also investing in Crossrail and funding the Heathrow Express.

Pollution from aircraft would reduce with the arrival of cleaner and more efficient engines.


Global Impact

John Stewart reassured us that he was not opposed to the airport but that he wanted to see short haul flights phased out and replaced by high speed rail. This would create capacity for the existing runways to accommodate more long haul flights without expanding overall capacity.

However two thirds of emissions come from long haul flights and an increase in these might actually create more pollution. Furthermore, reducing capacity at the Heathrow hub might just encourage passengers to use the airports at Paris or Amsterdam instead. This would harm London's economy without mitigating damage to the environment.

Peoples' Question Time

The next PQT featuring the Mayor and Assembly Members will take place in Brixton on Monday evening. The venue is the O2 Academy, 211 Stockwell Road, SW9 9SL. This meeting gives the public an opportunity to put questions to Boris Johnson and members of the Assembly.

The session will start at 7.00pm (doors open 6.00pm) and end at 9.00pm. It will be chaired by Val Shawcross, the Labour Assembly Member for Lambeth and Southwark.

Full details are available online at http://www.london.gov.uk/ or alternatively the event can be heard on LBC - http://www.lbc.co.uk/ .

This promises to be a lively night, if it is anything like the Bethnal Green meeting earlier this year. I will provide a write up from my own perspective after the event...

Justice Seen to be Done

Filling in at the budget monitoring sub committee this morning. We took evidence from the police and fire services, reviewing their first quarter financial management.

The police were represented by Paul James from their finance team who told us that there had been two events that proved to be an unexpected drain on the police budget. The first was the Tamil demonstration outside Parliament which would be funded from reserves. The second was the G20 demonstration in the City of London. Reimbursement of over £3 million was being sought from the Home Office to cover the cost of diplomatic protection and security for the summit.

Savings were also anticipated, in particular from the introduction of virtual courts.

The pilot scheme sees 15 police stations across South London connected to Camberwell Green Magistrate's Court so that hearings can take place remotely, saving the cost of ferrying the suspects to court in a police van. Whilst most cases could be dealt with this way the pilot is focussed on the initial hearings that precede full trials. Potentially the time from charging a suspect to a court appearance can be reduced to three hours, cutting through the backlog of cases and saving court time.

Justice is done and seen to be done. There is even the theoretical possibility of making the on line exchanges publicly available although this would require primary legislation and the Met wisely refused to be drawn into this debate.

Cleaning The Air

On Thursday afternoon the Environment Committee took evidence on the mayor's draft Air Quality Strategy. The main witness was Environment Adviser Isabel Dedring who is well liked and respected across the political spectrum at City Hall. Inevitably the discussion focused on the Low Emission Zone and plans to clean up diesel vehicles in the capital.

Where?

Although the Low Emission Zone covers the whole of the Greater London Area - give or take some unusual boundary quirks - the main problem is in the centre of town. There are pollution hotspots at major road junctions - Tower Hill, Marble Arch, Euston Road, Trafalgar Square and all along the Victoria Embankment. Heathrow Airport clearly shows up on the pollution map, but strangely there is no corresponding hotspot at London City Airport, although an increase in the number of jets may create one in future.

Against this evidence, I expressed surprise that successive additions to the LEZ restrictions would apply in outer London. Harefield, Enfield, Bromley and Havering all register the lowest levels of air pollution, yet owners of agricultural vehicles, motorised horse boxes and mini buses will all have to make expensive alterations to their vehicles, or even replace them, although those vehicles never go near the polluted areas. This seems unfair and - not surprisingly - I'm getting complaints from residents.

Particulates

Also known as PM10 emissions, these form a fine micro dust in the air we breathe and can irritate the lungs, particularly affecting asthma sufferers. The top three sources of PM10s in London are:

Black Taxi exhausts

Light goods vehicle exhausts

Tyre and brake wear from private cars

The move from petrol to diesel - encouraged by fuel prices and tax incentives - has led to more particulates whilst reducing carbon dioxide emissions. As particulates are more harmful than CO2 the tax regime looks perverse in large cities like London.

The strategy targets goods vehicles and black cabs but Isabel admitted that the particulate traps fitted to cabs had been less effective than predicted in many cases. I remember this being a hotly contested issue a couple of years ago when I raised cabbies' concerns with Livingstone. The Public Carriage Office did some tests which proved the modifications worked, Livingstone accused me of stirring up trouble and the whole thing was forgotten. It seems that there was a problem after all...

Nitrogen Oxides

The main polluter is nitrogen dioxide, a brown gas which is poisonous and has greater global warming effects than carbon dioxide, but the definition also includes nitrous oxide which is unstable and converts to nitrogen dioxide over time by combining with naturally occurring oxygen.

The three biggest polluters in London are:

Domestic gas boilers

Heavy goods vehicle exhausts

Private car exhausts

The new particulate traps being introduced for buses and HGVs also aim to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.

The domestic boilers are a different problem, requiring planning law changes and retrofits. Decentralised power generation - meaning small power plants closer to homes - also has the potential to increase nitrogen oxide pollution. It is acknowledged that biomass boilers, which are included in many environmentally friendly developments, are more polluting than gas. When it comes to saving the world and cleaning London's air there are no easy choices and some of the solutions are contradictory.

BNP On Question Time

I watched Nick Griffin on Question Time last night, no doubt along with many others who had tuned in to see what the fuss was about.

Of the other four panellists I was most impressed with Bonnie Greer and Sayeeda Warsi. I hadn't seen Bonnie before and I thought she demonstrated a depth of knowledge and good sense on some historical matters, and she maintained her good humour despite having to sit next to Griffin - I assume the three politicians refused to do so. I was with Sayeeda in Bosnia and she is one tough cookie, as she demonstrated on the show, giving better than she got. Her condemnation of the government for creating the ideal environment for the BNP to grow was particularly telling and I was impressed by her strong defence of moderate Islam. We could do with seeing more Muslims like Sayeeda on television and fewer of the extremists who often attract coverage.

Chris Huhne was also good - worryingly so for Clegg, I imagine - although he was not credible when he was asked what the Lib Dems would do about immigration from within Europe. Jack Straw struggled to defend the government's record on immigration and community cohesion. The government minister is usually the hate figure for the audience, for once this was not the case, but he still came across as strident at times.

Griffin was clearly revelling in his most hated man in Britain status, playing up to some of the BNP stereotypes. He had difficulty justifying his previous quotes - not surprisingly - and went off into loopy conspiracy theory territory on a couple of occasions.

Many of the audience also came out of this well. They were decent people with real questions, not the shouty counter demonstration that they could easily have been. I was particularly taken with an articulate asian man who defended his love for Britain and asked where the BNP proposed to deport him to. Our country - and particularly our city - needs good, committed people like this and the colour of their skin or their religious beliefs should be irrelevant.

I was very disappointed that most of the session focused on the BNP, with Griffin's personal history debated repeatedly as if it was the most important news of the day. Outside the bubble of the studio we have a postal strike, a conflict in Afghanistan and an expenses scandal, yet the only non BNP discussion related to Anne Moir's article about Stephen Gately and the panellists swiftly drifted back to the subject of.... the BNP.

BBC News stated that, as the beneficiary of a significant vote - Griffin was entitled to occasional appearances on Question Time, which suggests that they might invite him back. If this does happen, I hope the debate will range more widely than it did this time. The BNP are comfortable talking about themselves but when they are asked to comment on the big political issues their inadequacy shines through...

Redbridge Transport Liaison Committee

The committee met last night at Ilford Town Hall. Cllr Ashley Kissin was elected chairman and ran an efficient meeting, helped on this occasion by a lack of public contributions.


Forest Road

Aldborough Cllrs Loraine Sladden and Vanessa Cole turned up to make the case for a new bus route along Forest Road. The Central Line bridge precludes the use of double deckers so the choice of services that could be diverted or extended is limited. Representatives from London Buses doubt that there is sufficient demand on the basis of the low number of residents in Forest Road, but this is not the full story.

Forest Road has seen an increase in the number and quality of attractions along its length. Most notably, Boris Johnson recently opened the new cycling track at Hog Hill. Obviously most users will be able to cycle to this venue but the track is quite demanding - I can attest to this personally - with steep gradients, so visitors need to conserve their energy. The Mayor also allocated £400,000 to improve Fairlop Waters earlier this year and the facilities at Hainault Forest have also been upgraded. Add to those the desire to reduce car use by workers at the Hainault industrial estate and there might well be sufficient demand for a low frequency service.


King Georges Hospital

Concerns were expressed about the adequacy of bus services to Redbridge's main hospital. In particular the 365 which runs from Ilford via Gants Hill is often overcrowded in the morning, a situation made worse by demand for travel to Redbridge College. Councillors were very worried that the NHS proposal to focus GP services on just four polyclinics would increase the load on the hospital yet further. London Buses assured us that they are now talking to the NHS about the routes they will need to introduce - better late than never...


462 Bus

I raised concerns about this route running early. London Buses state that their services may run up to two minutes early and up to five minutes late and still be considered on time. The vehicles are tracked using ibus technology and held at stops to regulate the service. They can't wait too long because a bus occupying a stop for more than three minutes is deemed to have parked and can be issues with a ticket - you learn something new at every meeting. Early running had exceeded two minutes on several occasions and Arrive had disciplined two drivers for this.


Gants Hill

The good news is that following an agreement enabling the water companies to work alongside TfL's contractors, the project is back on target and due to complete according to the original timetable in late 2010. In November 2009 the work on the island will be complete and two lanes will be reinstated on the roundabout. Restrictions will then apply at each exit in turn as the contractors work their way clockwise, installing crossings and signals.

I met with local businesses on Wednesday night and it is clear that the disruption is threatening the existence of some shops. TfL undertook to do everything they could to minimise the impact.

Pictures!

They are back!

Several months ago my computer caught a virus from Facebook which wiped out all the hard disk, including my photo library. Today I spent some time retrieving the best pictures and retrospectively illustrating some of the recent pieces.

Enjoy!

End of the Road?

Rumours have been kicking around for several days concerning supposed secret conservative plans to abolish the London Assembly and replace it with a committee of London borough leaders. The proposal originated with Conservative Thinkers - although you don't need to be much of a thinker to recycle a policy that was first mooted a decade ago - and has been 'exposed' by Tribune magazine. The Evening Standard covers it today and it is being debated over at Tory Troll and on Conservative Home, with fairly predictable comments in both places.

Support has been expressed by Hammersmith & Fulham leader Stephen Greenhalgh, who I suspect would do a fine job of scrutiny as part of a leaders' committee. Other council leaders may not have the time, indeed some struggle to control and reform their own backyards.

My colleague Andrew Boff has also expressed some support for the idea. This may seem strange but it is understandable in the light of the strategy of the Labour, Liberal and Green parties to deny the eleven strong Conservative group a proportional share of committee chairs. I can well understand some members seeing little point in an organisation that limits their participation.

I don't support abolition but I do think reform is essential in a number of areas:


Powers

The Act that set up London government created a strong mayor and a relatively weak assembly. Subsequently, the mayor's powers have been increased but the assembly remains the same, so here are three suggestions:

1. At present the budget can be passed by only a third of the assembly voting in favour. Not surprisingly, it has never been rejected or amended in nine years. Raise the bar by requiring an absolute majority.

2. There is currently no democratic check on the mayor's strategies. The London Plan, Transport Plan and Economic Development Strategy should all require approval by a majority of the assembly.

3. Members are required to sit on the police and fire authority boards, may take part in the LDA board and are prohibited from serving on the board of TfL. This confusing fudge should be swept away with members appointed to all the functional body boards in proportion to the size of their political groups.


Democratic Deficit

The combined first past the post and party list election ensures that the assembly is always hung. As a practical result the third party Liberal Democrats get to decide who chairs the committees, treating the public vote as merely a consultation. This leads to weak 'me too' government.

The list element should be discarded and the existing large constituencies halved in size. The result would be a 28 member body with enough members to serve on the functional bodies and clear political control.

Presently the assembly is elected on the same day as the mayor, making it very likely that the mayor's party will dominate the assembly. The elections should be staggered to allow for a mid term assembly vote which could potentially give the opposition a much stronger hand.


Managerialism

Over the last twelve years politicians at all levels have lost a lot of their power, and the current expenses scandal threatens to dilute their influence still further. Constituents wonder why MPs can't prevent hospital closures, councillors can't vote on bus lanes and assembly members can't make the buses run on time. The reason is that many of these powers have been devolved to professional officers - well meaning people who act in line with standards set by their national bodies and strategic plans that bury proposals in turgid detail. Often we are told we can't do things because of health and safety or judicial constraints. Expression of opinions is confined by the threat of the standards regime.

Across the board these restrictions need to be rolled back. The people should be in charge and their elected representatives need to be empowered, not controlled and restricted.


The Record

Notwithstanding its relative impotence, the assembly has produced some good work over the years, but it has been like playing Scrabble without the vowels. The 7/7 review chaired by Richard Barnes provided the only opportunity for a public examination of that terrorist atrocity, given the government's reluctance to hold an inquiry.

The transport committee reports on the collapse of Metronet and the value of bus contracts must have been high quality because Commons select committees incorporated them into their own findings. We were questioning Boris about the heavy snow disruption weeks before his spat with the Commons. My own flooding review from 2002 is still quoted whenever there is heavy rainfall.

But we missed some opportunities too. The failure to scrutinise PPP during the first term left the assembly scrambling to catch up as the complicated structure collapsed under its own weight several years later.

There have been high and low points but with proper reform the assembly could be so much better.

Manchester Conference

Back in the office, I have a few moments to reflect on last week's Conservative Party Conference. I first attended conference in 1989 at Blackpool. Margaret Thatcher was still Prime Minister and I was a candidate for the local council, selected for a winnable seat at the age of 25 and despite having only joined the party three months earlier. A gang of us from Chingford stayed in a friendly but basic guest house and across the road was a property where scantily clad ladies leaned out of the windows beckoning to us when we returned in the evenings. I didn't have a clue what they were offering...

I spent every day in the conference hall and we all applauded dutifully during each speech. I recall my palms throbbing red raw after a session featuring John Gummer talking about agriculture.

Fast forward to 2009...


Manchester

After Birmingham last year - which was fantastic - I was looking forward to Manchester. I prefer big city conferences with smart hotels and restaurants. You need to walk with confidence, to be noticed, and this is much easier if you know you have a decent base to operate from. You can also decline the rip off breakfast charges and go to Starbucks instead.

I really wanted to like Manchester, not least because I was born in Rochdale so this was something of a home coming. The architecture is really impressive, with a lot of big old buildings dating from the age of industrial prosperity. The Town Hall is something else, an exotic fairytale castle planted right in the heart of the city. They directed the nineties drama 'GBH' here and the building also featured as the House of Commons before filming inside Parliament was permitted. In the seventies the big projects continued, with Piccadilly Square and the Arndale Centre making a questionable impression. Most recently there has been a glut of shiny residential blocks and hotels with the Beetham Tower most prominent.

A wander around town on Sunday evening revealed a young and fun loving population. It wasn't as cosmopolitan as London and some of the rowdy behaviour around the clubs reminded me of Romford on a Friday night. And I had forgotten the rain - it came down in sheets throughout Tuesday, imprisoning me in the hotel bar. I must take an umbrella next time.


The Greatest Show on Earth

Well, the greatest political show for some time at any rate. This year a lot more people attended. The exhibition hall was packed with stands and there was a food market featuring Tesco, Asda and M&S all actually selling things and expecting - shock, horror - to make a profit. Harvey Nicks made an appearance, operating a cocktail bar just outside the conference hall, although champagne was - according to the press - forbidden.

Many more companies, charities and pressure groups were represented, all wanting to meet the people they think could be running the country soon. The Midland Hotel has a large lobby but the seating proved inadequate to support all the impromptu meetings and more tables had to be drafted in on Monday morning. I arrived too late to reserve a place and conducted my own meeting with the chairman of Crossrail standing up in a remote corner. Later I encountered the 2012 gang who stuck an Olympic logo pin in my lapel.

But I was relatively undisturbed. Some candidates for winnable seats reported meeting requests from 200 or more lobbyists, often completely unrelated to their interests or expertise. The assembly had this to a lesser extent a few years ago so now I always ask the lobbyist to prepare an agenda before we meet - this request for a small piece of work ensures that ninety percent take their business elsewhere and I only see relevant people.

It was all a far cry from recent conferences which were shunned by business interests and saw members talking to themselves. I'm in two minds about the situation, really. Yes, we are being taken seriously, but it also feels like the activists have lost something. In 1997 we were in mourning at Blackpool, but we also felt closer to the leadership and the audience were even invited onto the stage on the last day. Not much chance of that now.


The Fringe

We ran our own fringe meeting on Wednesday evening, kindly sponsored by Canary Wharf. It took place outside the security cordon in the Lord Mayor's Parlour, which was something else - a huge room in which you could lose the City Hall chamber, hung with full length portraits of the early Lord Mayors. I doubt we will ever see similar pictures of our own Ken and Boris, displayed for future generations. It took eight years for the GLA to get a portrait of the Queen...

Following last year's successful speed dating event, when 200 people queued out of the door to meet AMs, we decided to follow the same format. Tim Montgomerie of Conservative Home was our special guest and MEP Syed Kamall made a surprise appearance. Six Assembly Members made it to the event and activists were delighted to meet James Cleverly, Richard Tracey, Victoria Borwick, Andrew Boff and Tony Arbour. Shadow minister Andrew Rosindell also dropped in.

The discussion was lively and wide ranging, including bendy bus replacement, police station closures, cost cutting at City Hall, and of course members' pay. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of positive initiatives that were suggested and the interest shown by people not just from London, but from across the country. We will repeat the speed dating format next year so book early...

'Speed Dating' at Conference

Following the success of our Speed Dating reception at Birmingham last year, where over 200 people queued up to meet London assembly personalities and the blogger Guido Fawkes, I am pleased to announce that we will be hosting another session next week in Manchester.

This time our special guest is Tim Montgomerie of Conservative Home, and of course members of the London assembly will also be present.

We are meeting in the Mayor's Parlour at Manchester Town Hall - moving up in the world this year - at 5:30pm on Wednesday 7th October. No need to reserve places, but the event was busy last year, so please turn up on time.

Havering Business Awards

On Friday night I attended the Havering Business Awards dinner with guests from the Fire Authority. We had been nominated for one of the prizes but it was far from a done deal - two years ago we reached the final but did not win.

However this time the efforts of the team were rewarded. The Fire authority won the Sustainable Design and Construction Award for the new fire station currently under construction at Harold Hill. This is the first fire station to be built in London for twelve years, which is in itself a cause for celebration. The building is designed to minimise its carbon footprint, making efficient use of energy and water. It can also be adapted to house more fire engines if necessary or altered for other uses. So congratulations to Barbara Riddell and her LFEPA team.

But that wasn't the end as the contractor who is building the station, Lakehouse Contracts Ltd, walked away with the Business and Education Partnership Award for its work with the further education college. More of their projects can be seen at www.lakehouse.uk.com .They then topped off the evening by winning the overall Havering Business of the Year Award.

A great night for a great team...

Congestion Charge Extension Will Be Scrapped

Today the Evening Standard carries a story claiming that Boris will renege on his election promise to scrap the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge Zone. The piece looks to be based on rumours that have been circulating in the blogosphere for a few days and a rather selective take on a quote from Transport Advisor, Kulveer Ranger.

The phones and emails are buzzing over this, and Boris has issued the following statement:

You may have heard the scurrilous rumour that I have reneged on my promise to remove the Western Extension of the Congestion Charge Zone. I am writing now to tell you that is emphatically not true.

When I was elected, I promised to give Londoners the consultation they never got. Londoners expressed the overwhelming view that it should be removed, and I promised to honour that judgement. I maintain that promise today, and to make it absolutely crystal clear: we will be removing the Western Extension next year.

We have to jump through a number of tedious bureaucratic hoops before the axe can fall, but fall it will. The extended zone will be no more. It will be an ex-zone, the area formally known as. It will be a dead zone!

So there we have it, from the Mayor's own mouth and in his own - unique - words.

Zil Lanes Criticised

A memorable feature of the Soviet Union was the exclusive 'Zil Lane', reserved for communist VIPs to be swept past the traffic jams in their limousines. London will have its own version of Zil lanes in 2012 thanks to the Olympic Route Network, providing a fast link between the five star hotels of the West End and the main venues at Stratford and Greenwich. Roads which will have reserved lanes include the Embankment and the Blackwall Tunnel.

We have raised concerns about the proposed network of exclusive lanes in the past, but today news of more criticisms emerged - courtesy of the BBC. It appears that the police and the ambulance service have both expressed concerns about the effect on response times, indeed I recall the last time the proposal was discussed there was some doubt if even the emergency services will be allowed to use the reserved lanes.

The exclusive network was one of the conditions imposed on London before the games were awarded to us. Lanes will be available for competitors naturally and Olympic officials, but other VIPs and journalists will also benefit - no squeezing onto public transport for them...

The Olympics organisers are due to appear before the Assembly for questions in a few weeks and it's a sure bet that the Olympic Route Network will feature high on the agenda.

London Isn't Burning

Yesterday the Fire Authority received a document reviewing the long term fire trends for Greater London. Bringing together data from the creation of Greater London in 1965 to the present day, the report paints a fascinating picture of how the capital has changed over almost half a century.


Population

In 1966 Greater London's population was around 7.8 million, having declined from some 8.6 million in 1939, at the outbreak of the war. Numbers continued to decline, reaching 6.7 million in 1988 - a year after I moved here - but then started to climb, achieving 7.5 million in 2007. The idea that London is more populous than at any time in its history is therefore incorrect, however there are other social trends which arguably have a greater impact.

The number of households - unlike the population - has steadily increased over the same period from 2.2 million in 1966 to 3.1 million in 2008, driving the demand for development and urbanisation. Behind these figures are large numbers of single parent families and people who live alone. I have always thought there was scope for someone to lobby on behalf of single Londoners, and these figures demonstrate the growth of this important group.


Fires

In 1976 the number of fires peaked at 63,524, declining to just 29,735 at the end of 2008 - the lowest total since 1965. The number of fires per year has fallen steadily since 2003. Fire deaths in 2008 (46) were less than a quarter of the numbers suffered in 1980 (196), which is very good news although of course the numbers don't yet include the recent Lakanal House tragedy.

In 1966 the London Fire Brigade responded to more than 10 chimney fires but by 2008 clean air legislation and the decline of coal as an energy source meant that only one such fire occurred every three to four days.

In 1966 50% of all the incidents attended by the Brigade were fires. In 2008 only 20% of callouts relate to fires. Much more time is spent responding to road accidents, flooding and people trapped in lifts.

Gants Hill Delays

Depressing news reaches me from TfL. During the work on the roundabout at Gants Hill, they have unearthed 'unidentified utilities', and this now means that the project is going to be delayed considerably. The pipes and cables need to be traced and then diverted to allow for the road works.

The original completion date of October 2010 has now been put back to April 2011 !! The carriageway will be returned to its previous capacity, with temporary traffic management measures in place.

TfL have undertaken to brief me regularly and to keep Redbridge Council and local stakeholders informed as the work progresses.

Choppy Water at MQT

Boris and the Conservative Group don't agree on everything - the mayor appealed beyond traditional party loyalties to secure his election so some dissent is to be expected. The other groups have commented on the somewhat independent approach of some Conservative members. "Ken would never have tolerated this from Labour." is a commonly expressed sentiment.

Past meetings have seen clashes over a proposed amnesty for illegal immigrants and the powers that TfL exercise in deciding the location of bus stops. Today things got rougher than usual.

With the coming year's budget in prospect, members lined up to make the case for a repeat of last year's precept freeze. Trenchant colleague Brian Coleman pushed a bit further, calling for significant cuts particularly in the Transport for London monolith. It probably got a bit more heated than envisaged but Boris was left in no doubt that we will be seeking to protect council tax payers during the budget consultation.

Andrew Boff then raised concerns about the LDA's funding of new academies. The worry - shared by other members - is that the mayor is extending his powers onto territory that is firmly under borough control. Andrew even suggested that the effect would be to recreate a smaller version of the ILEA, along with an 'Outer London Education Authority' - OLEA!

Some constructive criticism of the administration is, in my opinion, a good thing, and anyway it is our job. Visitors in the gallery told me how refreshing they find this after the toadying that is all too evident at Prime Minister's Questions. But perhaps things went too far this time...

I raised concerns - originally highlighted by Morris Hickey - about the standard of service on the 462 bus route, which often runs early at Fulwell Cross, 14 minutes early on one occasion documented by Morris. The Mayor promised further sanctions against Arriva if the service did not improve and told us that two drivers had been disciplined for failing to observe the timetable. Hopefully things will get better but I'm sure we will soon know if they don't.