Many Questions

This morning saw the February MQT session. With questions about the Mayor's role in the Damian Green affair ruled out of order - our standards committee still has to consider its findings - this was a scrappy meeting without a real core theme. The public gallery was packed as usual, with several school and college parties, a group from Richmond, and my own guests from The Executive Network.

Tim O'Toole

We were sorry to receive the news of Tim's resignation. after six years running London Underground - more than enough for most - he has decided to return to the US. Tim is the last, and best, of the Americans recruited to TfL under Ken and he will be sorely missed. The search for a successor will now begin.

Housing Targets

The Mayor agreed with me that the new London Plan should specify larger space standards for flats in future developments. I met a German architect at the weekend and she expressed shock at the tiny properties that we allow in London, and at the fact that social housing has higher standards than private housing. There is a sore need for some levelling up - London deserves buy to live, not buy to let.

Air Quality

The opposition made much of the decision to suspend implementation of phase three of the low emission zone, and claimed that the Mayor had tried to hide the news amongst the coverage of the snow earlier this month. Actually there is no reason to hide what is a good piece of news for thousands of London businesses and charities that faced bankruptcy as a result of the demand to change their vehicles. Now they will get a further grace period, and considering the surprise that the recession caused, a Labour Mayor may well have taken the same decision.

Meanwhile Boris has written to Dark Lord Mandleson asking for grants to help small businesses upgrade their vehicles. Motorists in London will welcome some carrots after years of Ken's sticks.

Outer London Commission

The Mayor accepted that the new commission - whilst a welcome initiative - was developer heavy, so he agreed to consider appointing some members who would act to preserve the green spaces and heritage of outer London rather than seeking to modernise and build on them.

British Jobs for British Workers

I'm sure Gordon Brown would be delighted at the way BNP member Barnbrook took up his rallying cry, following the recent spate of wildcat strikes. Boris mounted a stout defence of people from other countries who come to London and vowed to reject calls for a more protectionist approach - not least because of the number of Londoners who find work in other countries.

DLR Overcrowding

There's a by election in North Woolwich, which tends to focus attention on a largely forgotten area. Neil Pearce, the Conservative candidate, is calling for an upgrade to the DLR trains following the opening of the new station at Woolwich which in turn created heavy use and overcrowding on the service. The Mayor agreed to look at it, and even John Biggs - the local AM - is on board. Nice to conclude with some cross party agreement.

Peoples' Question Time

It doesn't seems like six months since our visit to Bromley, but PQT rolls around again next week. This time the mayor will be appearing on very different territory, in the heart of Labour's safest assembly seat, City & East - and the session will be chaired by Labour's Inquisitor in Chief, John Biggs, who is also the local AM.

The session takes place on 5th March at 7:00pm in the impressive surroundings of York Hall, Bethnal Green, E2. The last event was packed out and this one promises more of the same. Tickets can be booked by:

Emailing peoplesquestions@London.gov.uk

Online at www.London.gov.uk

Phoning 020 7983 4762 and leaving your order on the answerphone

By texting - if you really must...

I will also be there, in the front row, so I'm expecting to see lots of friendly faces, after all it isn't all that far from Havering & Redbridge...

Uptown Oil

This morning the environment committee visited Uptown Oil, a small business dedicated to the fight for clean air in the capital.

Based in a railway arch, they supply cooking oil to London's restaurants then recover the used oil which would normally be thrown away or even poured down the drain. This is then filtered and put through a series of chemical separations to produce a usable fuel - biodiesel.

The recovered fuel is sold, mostly to black cab drivers who usually know a good deal when they see it. Not only is it a good example of reuse, but the fuel actually burns cleaner producing fewer of the particulates that dirty our windows and irritate our lungs. A black cab running on biodiesel can pass its emission test without the need for expensive exhaust modifications.

They estimate that the city's restaurants produce enough waste oil to fuel all London's black cabs and the bus fleet too, simultaneously cutting down carbon dioxide production and air pollution. They also employ ten people which is not to be sniffed at in these challenging times.

TfL Deputy Chairman in Committee

This afternoon the assembly met to confirm the appointment of Cllr Daniel Moylan as the statutory deputy chairman of TfL.

Daniel was elected to Kensington & Chelsea Council in 1990, where he rose to become deputy leader. The council appointed him to the London wide Transport & Environment Committee (TEC) which he has chaired for many years. Daniel therefore had a lot of experience to draw upon when he took questions from assembly members.


Role and Responsibilities

TfL will now have two deputy chairman (the other being Christopher Garnett, and the chairman being the mayor). As the Statutory Deputy Daniel will chair board meetings when the mayor cannot be present. He also sees his role as improving relationships, particularly between TfL and assembly members, and TfL and the boroughs. He will use his experience to provide leadership on surface transport and street scene issues, complementing Chris Garnett's rail experience. Finace Chairman, Peter Anderson, will lead on budget formation and the increasingly vigilant hunt for savings.

Daniel will also be reviewing the structure of committees reporting to the board, including the delegation of financial responsibilities, and making recommendations to strengthen the structure.


Conflict

Daniel allayed the committee's concerns about conflicts of interest, pointing out that he has now resigned not just as chairman of the TEC, but from the committee itself. His portfolio at Kensington & Chelsea has been reduced, removing transport and placing TfL related planning matters at arm's length.

Daniel is keen not to become a TfL glove puppet, retaining his right to criticise services when necessary. As an example, he referred to the Circle Line as being like the railway service in Harry Potter - sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't. As I recall the Hogwarts Express was more punctual and actually left without Harry on one occasion.


Conclusion

The assembly concluded - cross party - that this is a good appointment we were happy to support. We are however asking Boris to clarify the exact responsibilities of the role.

A Valentine's Tryst at LBC

Tomorrow morning, from 10:00, I'm taking part in the Ken Livingstone show on LBC. We will be reviewing stories from the days papers and discussing the week's events, no doubt including the first Boris Budget, and the wisdom of swearing at Keith Vaz...

But we won't be alone. Our chaperons will be Lib Dem AM, Caroline Pidgeon and Tory Troll blogger, Adam Bienkov, who drops in here to comment now and then.

Clearly a half hour not to be missed...

Making History

Budget debate restarts at 10:00 this morning. This time only one third of members need to support the budget for it to pass, so it must be almost certain that Boris will get his way.

The first GLA budget ever to freeze the council tax precept hopefully paves the way for further savings over the next three years.

UPDATE - the budget was approved, with only the Greens promoting an alternative. The Lib Dems produced a wish list with some original and interesting ideas, but not costings. Labour came up with a shorter list but no figures. They gave the impression of wanting to spend much more but welcoming the council tax freeze.

History has been made!

Help A London Park

This morning I hosted a delegation from William Torbitt Primary School in Redbridge, who came to deliver around 300 postcards from their pupils, supporting the case for £2 million funding for Fairlop Waters.

Proposals for this large site include rehabilitating wildlife habitats, providing a play area, reinstating paths and providing better access throughout, including to a lagoon in the south of the park.

With the mayor due to decide on the recipient of this funding, as well as the winner of the £400,000 allocated by public vote, this was a timely intervention which could tip the scales in our favour.

I will be boxing up the cards and carrying them up to the mayor's office this afternoon - I hope that Boris considers the very sound case and chooses to award the money to Fairlop Waters.

Adventures at Hainault

I have just returned from a wet morning in Hainault Forest Country Park, which was more fun than it sounds...

I joined Mayor of Redbridge, Cllr Lorraine Sladden, and children from local schools for the opening of three adventure playgrounds. Funded by the Big Lottery Fund, to support the concept of play, these three new areas will provide the country park with an exciting new attraction.

Even in the pouring rain, the children found the enthusiasm to enjoy the swings and rope walks. Us adults were a bit more circumspect - but some of us might sneak back for a go, when the sun comes out and the press have gone.

We often complain that we don't get much from the Lottery in Redbridge, so it is good to celebrate when some benefits come our way...

Environment Committee - Conflicting Priorities

The Environment Committee met on Wednesday morning. Following my return to this body, I'm still finding my feet and coming to terms with the often rather scientific evidence we receive.

This meeting was no exception, with witnesses from King's College London and the AEA, giving us their take on the problems of air pollution.

The Dirty Man of Europe

London is often criticised for its air quality, and there is a very real threat of a fine from the European Union if things don't improve. I find the finger pointing a little surprising - back in July I spent two weeks in Sorrento and when I got off the plane at Naples, I can't say that I was struck by the cleanliness of the air... So I asked if other European cities were going to face fines too.

The experts told us that Paris, Berlin, Rome and most other European cities also have poor air quality and it is getting worse. However London is top of the pollution league because it is so much larger. So is the proposed fine in effect a tax on the size of our city rather than its air quality? Have those cunning Europeans put one over our hapless government and created another way to redistribute our wealth?

I'm never happy to see public sector organisations fined punitively, because of course the punishment isn't real - except for the taxpayer who has to foot the bill.

Poisons in the Air

There are two forms of pollution that we measure to determine air quality:

Nitrogen Dioxide is a waste product of vehicle engines and industrial processes. In high concentrations it is highly poisonous and at lower levels it has harmful effects. Over 90% of the residents of Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea are exposed to dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide. In Camden and Islington this figure is over 50%.

Particulates, known as PM10s, form a very fine dust, and are produced by vehicle engines. If - like me - you live near a main road or a busy car park, you can see particulates in the greasy film of dirt on your windows. Breathing that in can't be very healthy, and PM10s are known to irritate the lungs, aggravating existing conditions.

Ozone, a third pollutant, is not measured but the experts think it should be. Made up of three oxygen molecules, ozone is produced naturally when pollution combines with bright sunlight. Unlike ordinary oxygen, ozone is poisonous.

And here is an interesting fact - Diesel engines produce nearly twice as much nitrogen dioxide as petrol engines. They produce 17 times more particulates!

Professor Frank Kelly of King's College was critical of recent policies that have encouraged a switch from petrol to diesel fuelled vehicles. Of course petrol engines produce more carbon dioxide, which causes global warming, hence the move away from them.

Whilst Saving the World, we have been poisoning ourselves!

The verdict - diesel vehicles should be encouraged in the country but in London petrol is less harmful and alternative fuels, even electric vehicles, should be the ultimate aim.

Speed v Health

We also heard that slow moving traffic pollutes more than a free flow of vehicles. Of course we don't need science to tell us that - just stand close to any queue of cars and watch the smoke pour out whilst they go nowhere.

But science has produced an interesting figure. Vehicles travelling at speeds over 20mph produce half as much pollution.

So road humps harm air quality, as do excessive numbers of traffic lights and other artificial delaying measures so beloved of local councils. The longer the hold up, the worse the air quality. The trade off between road safety and air quality is not as straightforward as was thought at one time.

With Green members promoting 20mph zones for the whole city, this fact was clearly an inconvenient truth.

Heathrow

With the contentious detail dealt with, the committee welcomed Kulveer Ranger, Richmond Cllr Stephen Knight and veteran campaigner John Stewart, to update us on the Heathrow proposal. With opposition now everyone's policy - even Labour disagree with Gordon Brown - a healthy degree of consensus broke out.

The councils are planning unspecified legal action, with support from the mayor's office, but with detailed plans expected in two years, this one will be decided by a new government. we will hear a lot more about Heathrow as the general election approaches...

This Week the Snow - Next Week the Investigation

With transport services returning to normal, questions are being asked about London's resilience in the face of extreme conditions.

The Transport Committee are to hold a special session on Thursday 12th February, with witnesses from TfL. Their agenda has not yet been published but questions they should be asking include:

How exceptional was the level of snowfall?

How much warning was given and how did TfL prepare?

Was it really necessary to suspend the entire bus fleet, or was that an overreaction?

Why do the overground sections of the Tube always suffer when there is snow?

What is an appropriate level of resource to devote to rare but highly disruptive weather?

How can London avoid disruption when deep snow falls in future?

The Thursday session should be interesting, but I do wonder if just one meeting will get to the bottom of this complex problem.

Winter Wonderland

Well, Romford actually. This is the scene that greeted me when I opened the curtains this morning. The view across the Brewery car park to the cinema is transformed by several inches of snow that fell overnight.

Later on I will be taking the huskies and sledge over to Sainsburys for supplies and dodging polar bears when I visit the bottle bank with the weekend's empties. Then I will challenge transport for London and One Great Eastern to get me to the office.

And it's still snowing...

The Big Budget Debate

Today saw arguably the most important meeting in the London assembly diary. Every year the mayor has to present his budget for agreement by the 25 members, and on the first meeting he requires a straight majority to get it approved. The other groups get an opportunity to present amendments and detail their priorities for the coming year.

On this occasion there was much agreement, with everybody except the Greens welcoming a freeze in the budget. Only the Greens produced a fully costed alternative, which is quite an undertaking for a two member group, albeit that Darren Johnson found it easier than the protracted, behind the scenes negotiations with Livingstone's office, which marked the last four years for his group.

The debate was lengthy, with much said but relatively few differences:


Conservatives - More of the Same Please

Obviously we didn't have to draw up an alternative budget, for once. We applaud the Mayor's efforts to control costs and hold down the council tax in these difficult times. However we also hope that he will be able to go much further in future years, with plenty of scope for savings in City Hall, and no doubt buried away in the impenetrable monoliths of TfL and the Metropolitan Police.

Some tough questions were raised about the mayor's decision to retain a presence in some foreign countries and the usefulness of some initiatives, for example, the food strategy. This group are prepared to challenge the mayor when necessary. Virtually all the members contributed to the debate and they spoke well. I'm proud of the team!


Labour - The Dog Ate My Homework

No proposals at all from the eight strong Labour group. To be fair, they never had to produce an alternative budget under Livingstone - and they are still in shock. Eventually, they came up with a piece of paper which criticised Boris for failure to develop a coherent vision and went on to ask for more statistics to help them reach a conclusion. Their proposal then tailed off, having revealed nothing but a sense of irony.

Why are these people here? They might as well have produced a dog ate my homework excuse note...


Lib Dems - Show us Your Figures

The Libs did come up with a list of demands, including:

A youth worker to accompany every police safer neighbourhood team.
One hour bus tickets.
An inner London low emission zone.

To be paid for by measures including:

Reducing fare evasion.
Removing free travel for TfL staff.
Cutting the mayor's programme of public meetings.

Some attractive ideas, but unfortunately not costed properly. Caroline Pidgeon claims to have a version with numbers in - and I believe her - but she wants to show it to the mayor in private rather than opening it to assembly scrutiny. That's not very democratic, even if it does add up.


Greens - Livingstone's True Successors

Only the Green party produced a fully costed alternative budget, and good for them, regardless of content. At least they were taking the process seriously.

They showed how they could provide initiatives including:

Peace Week events for £20,000.
A bigger human rights and equalities programme for £148,000.
Parliament Square pedestrianisation for £6,000,000.
Removing one way systems for £6,000,000.
A 20mph speed limit trial for £3,000,000.
Reduced fare increase for £30,000,000.

With savings including:

Retaining bendy buses £3,000,000
Cancelling traffic light re phasing £11,100,000.
Increasing congestion charge to £10, raising £14,000,000.

And increasing the council tax precept by 1.2% to balance the budget.

Unacceptable in many ways and clearly carrying on the Livingstone legacy. Interestingly, Labour members voted against the very measures that they had been supporting under their own mayor.


BNP - No Comment

Richard Barnbrook treated us to a lengthy and aggressive rant, but failed to promote an amendment or a motion. He seems determined to oppose everything...


Result - Score Draw

All the amendments fell, with two exceptions:

The Conservative motion welcoming the precept freeze was passed, but only after the other parties amended it to criticise Boris for lacking a long term strategy and a clear vision.

A motion supported by the Greens, Labour and Lib Dems, listing initiatives they want to progress, but regrettably failing to provide costings.

The budget is not amended and will return to the assembly for final debate in two weeks. At this meeting only one third of the members will be required to support the budget proposal for it to be finally approved.

Fullwell Ward Supper

We had a good fundraiser in Ilford North last night, with excellent food, mostly prepared by Sonia MacDonald. Our guest speaker was my assembly colleague, Andrew Boff, our group spokesman on sport, culture and the Olympics.

Andrew took the opportunity to explain the workings of the Olympics and described his experiences of dealing with the mayor and Olympics minister, Tessa Jowell. Concerns include the decisions to host the equestrian events at Greenwich Park and the shooting at Woolwich. Plans to reserve a network of roads for Olympic VIPs during the event have also raised some eyebrows.

Andrew has also been very strong on improving the design of the Olympic athlete's village. Current plans look like leaving an uninspiring development, compared by one person to East Germany, and Andrew argues that Londoners deserve better, particularly as they are paying an average of £20 on their council tax.

Having described the challenges, Andrew praised the Mayor's optimism in the face of a promise to host the games that cannot be reneged upon - You can either rail against the darkness or light a candle - as he put it really well. This is going to happen under a Conservative Mayor and probably a Conservative government, so we must make sure it is outstanding.

Fire Authority Meeting

The London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority held their monthly meeting yesterday.


Budget

The budget is coming together after Labour and Lib Dem members signed up to the majority of a package of proposed savings. The agreed steps now include:

Introduction of mobile technology and electronic fire safety case files, saving £692,550.

Removing the central team of operational photographers, saving £188,224.

Restructuring the planning, risk and programme support office, saving £95,864.

Merging the interagency liaison group manager, saving £76,511.

Reducing call volumes in the home fire safety visit call centre, saving £66,804.

Increasing the Brigade's vacancy margin, saving £300,000.


National Fire Control Project

We heard the depressing news that yet another government IT project has fallen behind time and over budget. This time it is the project to introduce new fire and rescue service control rooms nationally.

The original business case envisaged a saving of £21 million nationally, but increased costs now mean that the savings have dwindled to £8 million, and this at a time when costs are falling, or rising more slowly, in relation to most capital projects. Liberal Democrat, Cllr Butcher, referred to this as a huge black hole in the finances, and for once he was not overstating his case.

More concerning is the revelation that the opening of the new London control centre has been put back to February 2011. With less than 18 months until the Olympics the timescale has suddenly become very tight. The best new technology needs time to bed in and the one thing we don't want during 2012 is a fire control centre hampered by bugs and gremlins.


The Blue Light Museum

Controversy over the future of the under used fire museum has led the Mayor to open an investigation into making the collection of memorabilia more accessible for Londoners. The idea is to combine several existing collections in one Blue Light Museum for the emergency services in London. This would comprise the London Ambulance Museum, currently at Ilford, a collection of vehicles held by the Metropolitan Police, and of course the famous Black Museum in the basement of Scotland Yard. Now that would be a museum worth visiting!

Capital Budgets

This afternoon the budget committee took evidence from the the MPA, LDA, TfL and LFEPA on their capital budgets. They tell us that the financial crisis is forcing them to tighten their purse strings. TfL are considering the possibility of declining income as passenger numbers fall, although as yet there is no sign of this happening.

On the positive side, falling construction costs and property prices mean that we can do more with less money - but there is one snag.

Remember the previous Mayor, you know, the one who told us that we would pay off the Olympic costs by selling all the property at a huge profit? Doesn't look so good now... The LDA are going to revise their spreadsheet to reflect falling values.

And there was bad news for TfL too. When Bob Kiley arrived, they bought a house in Belgravia for him to stay in. Ken claimed that when they sold the property, the profit would more than cover Mr Kiley's salary. Today TfL admitted that years after Bob's return to The States they still own the house. It is currently being rented out as the market is deemed unsuitable to sell it at present...

Ken has gone but the costs linger on.

Rub My Lamp...

I have just returned from the special performance of Aladdin at the Kenneth More Theatre, in support of the Mayor of Redbridge, Lorraine Sladden, and her appeal. All the London mayors - and some provincials - are invited to this annual event and they can bring young guests along to enjoy the show.

This year's production was particularly good, with some great foot tapping, sing along melodies, and fantastic glitzy costumes. Congratulations to theatre director Vivyan Ellacott and his team of excellent artistes.

Information about this and future productions is available at http://www.kenneth-more-theatre.co.uk/ .

Bexley By Election

Mutual aid, canvassing and delivering for a council by election in Welling. The weather stayed good, prompting an awesome turn out - only about a quarter of the volunteers fitted into this picture.

I was joined by fellow assembly members James Cleverly (on home ground), Gareth Bacon (it's his local council) and Steve O'Connell who came all the way from Croydon. Also present was MEP Syed Kamall, who faces his own re-election challenge later this year. On the right is James Brokenshire, currently the MP for Hornchurch, but moving to this constituency at the next election following boundary reviews.

A lot of people were out, enjoying the sunny morning, but we got a positive reception from those who we met.

Box Ticked - Job Done

The assembly Audit Panel met this morning:


Saved in Translation

Dan Ritterband, the new director of marketing, advised us that savings were being made in the City Hall translation budget, not least because the end of The Londoner has also ended the need to provide specialist copies in multiple languages and formats. In other areas the marketing budget for translation was now devolved to individual project teams who could choose how they spent it. A new London.gov website was being designed, with disability access included, and it would be up and running in June.


Events for London

An audit of the events management function carried out at the start of 2008 / 09 found that risks were not adequately managed and some contracts had been approved by officers who lacked the correct authority. New procedures had been put into place under the new mayor.


Older Peoples' Strategy

Under the previous mayor an advisory group had been set up to develop this strategy under advisor Mark Watts, but it had failed to meet. A new action plan was being drawn up and the advisory body would now be chaired by deputy mayor Richard Barnes, with membership from older peoples' organisations around London. With strong political leadership the advisory group would be more prominent and more productive in future.


Internal Audit Performance

I was surprised to learn that the auditors measure their success on the basis of the number of days they work. This is the sort of target that they would call an input measure if they saw it used in any other field. We should - the auditors tell us - measure outputs, i.e. the result of activities. We measure exam results, mortality rates, crime clear up rates and train frequency, to give a few examples. The auditors would be better measured by the number of reports they agree and the number of their recommendations that are implemented - or even by the amount of money they save... Looks like a case of do as I say, not as I do from the Audit Commission.

372 Bus Route Changes Rejected by Mayor

Following a sustained campaign from residents and opposition from all parties at Havering Council, the proposed route changes to the 372 bus have been rejected. In November a petition objecting to the plans was presented to the Mayor. Today I received his response:

This proposal was developed in response to Havering Council's long standing support for investigation of ways to serve areas of the borough which are relatively remote from the network. TfL has continued to discuss the proposal with the council as it developed. In this instance TfL has decided not to proceed, a decision which is supported by the council. TfL will write to stakeholders shortly to confirm this decision.

A rare victory for local people and one that would not have happened under the previous mayor.

Fairlop Waters

Last week I visited Fairlop Waters to see Redbridge council's plans to rejuvenate this fantastic area of green space. The first thing that struck me was the size of the park, over 145 hectares of wetland, scrub and grassland, including a golf course and a lake used for sailing. Much of this is presently underused because visitors get no further than the driving range and restaurant near the entrance.

Ambitious plans include improving the eighties style entrance and the rather poor quality access road, restoring habitats; including a gravel island, to provide better biodiversity; relocating the sailing club to more suitable buildings; a boulder park and adventure play area. The project also aims to open up access to land south of the park, including a silted lagoon which is currently hard to reach.

The good news is that this worthwhile proposal has been shortlisted in the mayor's competition for £2m regeneration funding. It is also in with a shout in the 'Help a London Park' public vote for £400k, although obviously it cannot win both these sums. The new park would be a great asset for the whole of north east London and the nearer parts of Essex so I hope the bid is successful.