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.

Redbridge Public Transport Liaison Group

This is where I spent yesterday evening. The meeting was efficiently chaired by Cllr Ashley Kissin and took presentations from two members of the public. First up were residents of Coventry Road in Ilford who requested a diversion of the 364 bus away from their street. Since the council installed speed tables there have been complaints of excessive noise and vibration along the route. Second was a resident of Wanstead who told us that the help points at the Central Line station were not working. Obviously this is not the sort of high minded strategic stuff that we deal with at City Hall, but it is vital to constituents and they expect TfL to get it right.

Bus Matters

Concerns were expressed about unruly behaviour of school children on the 275 and 167 routes - an unwelcome legacy of Ken's ill considered free travel giveaway. More police were travelling on buses now, but they could not be everywhere.

A request to extend route 247 to Queens Hospital was being considered. With services moving there from King Georges there was a growing need for a direct link between Ilford and the hospital which is not convenient for Romford Station, where the buses terminate at present.

TfL and Cllr Sue Nolan had worked together to agree a new bus route serving New Wanstead and people along the proposed route were being consulted. Hopefully the service would be running by the Summer.

Central Line

The Western exit from Snaresbrook station was closed outside peak times, owing to very low demand. I suggested that London Underground consider allowing elderly or disabled people to use the help point to request access rather than having to cross over the bridge. They agreed to consider this.

Pigeon nets on the bridge at Hainault station had been removed during repainting, resulting in a subsequent flying rat infestation. Work to replace the nets was being tendered, but why were they not replaced as part of the painting contract? Indeed, why does a relatively small job require complex and time consuming tendering? Here is one way that Metronet could save our money.

At Gants Hill, there was good news for once. The steps which were demolished by a lorry last year had now been replaced, allowing easy access to the subways from Cranbrook Road.

Major Projects

Despite the recent hysteria about cancelled projects there is still plenty happening. Crossrail will begin tunnelling in July and work is due to start at Tottenham Court Road station. In Redbridge, Ilford Lane is soon to be reconfigured in preparation for the East London Transit scheme. Concerns about parking were expressed but Redbridge officers assured us there would be enough spaces to allow businesses to operate.

An interesting meeting, and useful to get opinions from the sharp end.

New Year at the Budget Committee

This morning the committee received a budget update from the four functional bodies. A common theme was the impact of the downturn on finances. Falling land values have resulted in reduced capital receipts and this in turn means that new projects have slowed down and been postponed in some cases. Falling interest rates have led to low returns on deposits and a more cautious approach to investments - no more Icelandic banks for us...


Metropolitan Police Authority

Deputy mayor, Kit Malthouse, and assistant commissioner Tim Godwin told us about their plans to move more police officers into the front line. Presently only 65% of police time is spent on policing duties and this number would be improved by moving 550 officers out of custody suites and back onto the beat. Meanwhile introducing qualified nurses will be introduced in police stations to improve care for prisoners and lower the probability of deaths in custody. The number of special constables has grown from 600 to 2,600, providing a valuable resource to police town centres at night.

Money would also be saved by cutting roles duplicated by the Crown Prosecution Service and by reducing spending on IT, training and central services. The MPS were also lobbying the Home Office to allow them to keep the proceeds of crime seized by the asset recovery unit.


London Development Agency

The agency - a confusing morass under the previous mayor - had improved performance and transparency by focusing on fewer and larger projects, with more chance of delivering benefits. LDA priorities are now young people, environment and skills. Chief executive Peter Rogers told us of his plans to concentrate help on the retail, manufacturing and construction industries, in an effort to mitigate the impact of the recession.

Questioned about the closure of the London Climate Change Agency, formerly an arms length agency of the LDA, witnesses stated that it had failed to live up to early promises and was not particularly effective, with only 2 out of 9 funding partners feeling it represented value for money.


Transport for London

Despite the economic gloom and rising fares, TfL reported that passenger numbers were still rising', so the main revenue stream remained intact. Advertising income had taken a hit as companies scaled back their promotion budgets. The possibility of a shortfall of up to £1bn existed as a result of PPP cost disputes with Tubelines.

Money would be saved by cutting a number of budgets including highway maintenance. TfL believe that the quality of their roads is good but this was not borne out by the experience of constituency members on the committee.


London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority

Popular Chairman Brian Coleman made a reappearance alongside commissioner Ron Dobson. Brian was upbeat about his chances of saving more from the budget than required by the mayor. This would amount to at least £8.2m, without impacting on front line services.

Intervention by the mayor had led to investigation of the possibility of providing a new Emergency Services Museum for London, combining the contents of the Fire Brigade Museum, the Ambulance Service Museum, a collection of historic police vehicles, and the intriguing exhibits from Scotland Yard's infamous Black Museum. If the funding and a suitable venue could be found, this would provide an attractive alternative to the limited access these collections currently provide.


Progress on budget setting continues with the mayor's sights set firmly on a 0% increase this year. The budget will be set at an assembly meeting in February.

Happy New Year!

A message from Boris Johnson:

There are those who say we should look ahead to 2009 with foreboding. I want to quote Colonel Kilgore in Apocalypse Now when he says "Someday captain, this war is going to end", and someday, this recession is going to end.

We can speed the demise of this recession if we all help the poorest in our community and if we make the vital investment that we need in our mass transit system and in fighting crime, so that London emerges at the end better placed to compete and entrenched in its position as the greatest city on earth.

We are going to be working flat out at City Hall to achieve that. Let's go forward into 2009 with enthusiasm and purpose. I wish you a very happy New Year.

Boris then went on to take the Gloomadon Poppers to task for suggesting that we halt the fireworks because they sent the wrong message in a time of austerity. Not being much of a gloomadon popper myself, I feel he was exactly right. The firework display is a showpiece for London, sending a positive message around the world that this is The Place to do business, visit on holiday, and of course, live.

I join the Mayor in wishing you all a very happy, and prosperous, 2009.

Latest Dial A Ride Disaster

I returned today to find Dial a Ride on the front page of the Romford Recorder for all the wrong reasons.

Local pensioner Ernie Forrester booked a Christmas Day lift to visit his relatives in Collier Row back in November. He assumed that everything was agreed until they rang him just a week before Christmas to say they could no longer provide the service because of a shortage of drivers.

Ernie has had problems with the service before and Havering association for people with disabilities have raised concerns about the service which they claim no longer works.

Back in November I visited Dial a Ride HQ in Southwark to see the work they were doing to improve the call centre service following the installation of new software. They claimed that problems were being overcome and I wrote a positive piece on this blog, in the expectation that the service would improve.

However the litany of complaints continues and in December the London assembly passed a motion condemning the service with cross party support. In the New Year the transport committee will be examining the performance of Dial a Ride and, although I am no longer on the committee, I hope that representatives from Havering will be on hand to recount their evidence of the service's shortcomings.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Well, the Havering Park dinner last night was my final engagement - that puts the lid on 2008. It's been quite a year.

The high point had to be the election of Boris in May. We all put a great deal of hard work into that campaign, out in all weathers, sometimes it seemed like it would never end. The 'doughnut' strategy meant that more work was expected from Havering & Redbridge than in previous elections, but our efforts paid off with a whopping majority of over 43,000. Thank you so much to everyone who helped, it was a fantastic result and ours is now the third safest assembly seat in London.

We had a stuttering start, not surprisingly. The GLA was a vehicle designed and built by Ken Livingstone, so anyone else was going to find it like driving a diesel car on petrol, but over time people came to realise that they could work with us. Some notably Livingstonian policies - WEZ, deals with Venezuela, bendy buses - are on the way out and Boris showed his teeth in the removal of Sir Ian Blair. A frozen precept increase is in the pipeline for 2009, for the first time in GLA history.

The Conservative group is now eleven strong - the largest group ever elected to the assembly. Not quite enough to achieve a majority, but we do have two deputy mayors and the chairman of the fire authority. They are an experienced and able team who have bedded in well, and it is a privilege to lead them - thanks guys, for all your hard work this year.

It's resolution time - I need to lose a stone, raise my profile, find a partner (perhaps) and write a sequel to my first book. With a European election and the distinct possibility of a general election, 2009 promises to be a busy year.

Christmas Questions

Question Time with the mayor this morning. The Mayor unveiled his economic package to see London through the recession, led by a council tax freeze. Greens and Labour were unimpressed, depicting the saving for Londoners as only 11p per week. These are the same people who defended Livingstone's increases as only the price a walnut whip per week. It is sometimes hard to believe that they have a clue about money, because over a year these are significant amounts and even more important is the culture change which leads to year on year savings. Over time the difference is clear - everyone expects Wandsworth to charge a lower council tax than Haringey, yet that is down to the political culture of these authorities rather than the quality of the services provided. This freeze signals the direction in which London government is now progressing.


Freedom Pass

The assembly welcomed the introduction of 24 hour Freedom Passes on 2nd January. I sounded a note of caution, highlighting the poor quality of bus driving that leads to falls and injuries amongst passengers. TfL now have a good training programme but the high turnover of staff means that teaching careful driving skills is a constant need. Perhaps the recession will lead to bus drivers remaining in their jobs for longer.


Congestion Charge

The assembly welcomed the decision to end the Western Extension and last week's vote when Mancunians rejected the charge in their city. Victoria Borwick urged the mayor to consider granting Londoners a vote on possible abolition of the charge altogether. Boris refused to go so far, but the idea remains on the table.


Outer London Commission

We noted the establishment of a new Outer London Commission, in a helpful departure from the previous mayor's approach, in which Outer London was largely ignored except when the bills were sent out. Four Buddhas of Suburbia - myself, Richard Tracy, Tony Arbour, Brian Coleman - urged Boris to preserve the character of our boroughs and reject the existing London Plan with its pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap development policies. We await the findings of the new commission.


Turning the Volume Down

I drew the mayor's attention to noise complaints from residents around South Woodford and Grange Hill stations. The Central Line has brought in a new public address system on the platforms, but the volume is so loud that residents can get travel information in their back gardens, along with frequent requests not to smoke and take their litter home...

The situation is under review but how hard can it be to find the volume knob?

The Ghost of Christmas Past

And Ken was back in his usual place - The Ghost of Christmas Past.

Mayor at the Budget Committee

The budget committee heard evidence from the mayor this morning, as he prepares his first financial settlement.

The headline news is that for the first time in history, the GLA precept - the charge to council tax payers - is to be frozen. For future years of the Boris mayoralty the aspiration is to maintain this freeze and possibly to achieve a reduction, if this can be done. This has been achieved so far by avoiding waste and unnecessary expense.

The recession and falling inflation could produce more cost savings, however we were warned that the rate of growth in the number of passengers was slowing - amazingly it is still rising - so the revenue generated from public transport might not be as great as expected. This trend will be partly offset by cracking down on fare dodging, with the removal of bendy buses and increased enforcement sending a clear message to passengers who refuse to buy a ticket.

Ending the spending on projects for which no capital government funding was available, for example the £1.3 billion Cross River Tram, saved money and made for a more honest dialogue with Londoners. The mayor will buy the schemes he can afford and not hold out false promises on the rest of the programme. Money intended for the doomed Thames Gateway Bridge was being reserved to fund a new crossing at Silvertown instead.

TfL was exercising more stringent budget control through its diligent finance committee and Steven Norris - an experienced transport professional and former minister - was conducting a review of bus contracts which many suspect have not been giving Londoners good value for money.

The mayor praised London Travelwatch for their efforts over the last year, but I voiced my concern that their recent statements have been backward looking, for example their obsession with preserving bendy buses for future generations. It is time for the performance, business plan and objectives of Travelwatch to be reviewed, to ensure that they remain an authentic voice for passengers rather than providers.

Best quote of the meeting came from Labour member, Val Shawcross, stating "There is nothing socialist about wasting public money!", as she set out single handedly to rewrite history...

Facebook - Love, Fear, Rejection, Remorse, all in 12 Hours

Yesterday evening was quiet, so I decided to sign up on Facebook. The whole process was easy enough and I was delighted by the love bombing I received immediately - so many people wanting to be friends! Very flattering so I accepted them all, then went on to create a basic profile. I considered several photographs and decided to use the previously unpublished one from this year's London Freewheel, shown above. Seeing this every day will persuade me to eat fewer pies in 2009, and as an added bonus it also features the mayor, but not too prominently.

I had a bath and returned an hour later to discover some 40 emails - clearly this was going to need tight control, as my home address usually gets no more than half a dozen emails in a full day. Logging on, I found lots more new friends, some had posted photographs and one had invited me to his birthday party - looked good, unfortunately I was busy. I enjoyed a brief online chat with Simon Jones, candidate for Dagenham & Rainham, who warned me about privacy issues.

That got me thinking. Did I really know all these people? What if they said something extreme? Or did something embarrassing? And did I want them to know me that well? Didn't feel so good now...

So back to the 'friends' page and off with everyone I haven't known for months and years. This morning I'm feeling some remorse, after all I know that personally I hate rejection, and I wouldn't want to be befriended then defriended in a space of four hours. So I'm sorry, but I'm sticking to my rule - I'd like to know people personally before putting them on my page. Sometimes the old ways are the best.

The Progressive Alliance

Following the May election, assembly opponents of the Conservative mayor banded together to form the self styled Progressive Alliance, carving out all the committee chairs amongst themselves and setting out to make common cause against Boris. With 13 members in total they command a wafer thin majority on the 25 strong body. Seven months on, how are they doing?


Labour - Looking Back in Angst

The Labour group actually gained a member - Navin Shah - at the election, giving them a total strength of eight. Making up over half of the Progressive Alliance, they were naturally expected to take the lead.

However much of their time has been spent grieving and coming to terms with the May result. Like the crew of a wrecked flagship, they bob around in the water, seeking pieces of wreckage to cling to. They have an unerring instinct for grasping the lead lifebelts - issues that contributed to their demise. So we have seen unattractive campaigns such as:

Preserve the Bendy Bus

Save Sir Ian Blair

Keep the Congestion Charge Western Extension

Their most effective performer is John Biggs, who harries the mayor constantly at question time, but John often appears grouchy and bitter. For non Labour voters he is not a sympathetic figure.

Perhaps the biggest of the lead lifebelts is Ken himself. He has stopped hanging around in the audience at meetings, but in November he launched his online fightback at http://www.progressivelondon.com/ claiming support from a host of political and non aligned figures. The site was slow to start, with few comments and fewer articles - Prozac London would have been a better title - but it has picked up speed recently, with the resignation of another mayoral advisor and the mayor's remarks on the Damian Green controversy. No comments on the arrest itself and its implications for civil liberties, however - they're not that progressive.

Labour need to find a new candidate and some new ideas.


Liberal Democrats - The Magnificent Three

The Libs lost two members at the election, falling from five to just three, largely because their vote was squeezed by the high profile candidates of the two main parties. They have accepted the limitations placed on them by their numbers and have been careful about the responsibilities they took on.

Whilst supporting Labour on paper, in practice they have sought opportunities to distance themselves, most notably on the Western Extension with Lib Dem transport chairman Caroline Pidgeon demanding its scrapping, even whilst the consultation was in progress. This stands in stark contrast to the Labour / Green attachment to the charge.

Last week the Libs and Conservatives passed an amendment to a motion about the Met's human trafficking unit, condemning the Home Secretary's half baked proposals to control prostitution.

The Libs seem content to be part of the Progressive Alliance but don't want to be too closely identified with some of their policies.


Greens - The Tail Wags the Dog

With only two members, the tiny Green group managed to punch well above their weight in Ken's second term, securing funding for environmental projects as a price for agreeing the mayor's budget. With Ken gone and their votes no longer essential, the future looked grim.

However they have adjusted to the new circumstances remarkably quickly. Green member Darren Johnson, became deputy chair of the assembly and has chaired a couple of sessions in Jennette Arnold's absence. During one meeting he had left wing protestors thrown out of the chamber - surely a first for a Green politician.

Most meetings feature motions proposed by the Greens, which attract support from the other progressives, giving the impression that the Greens are actually leading the progressive agenda. The Greens raised the future of the human trafficking unit when the Home Office cut their funding, and it was the Greens who proposed the amnesty for illegal immigrants which caused such controversy in October.

Green leader Jenny Jones claims that she gets her way by being nice to the Labour group but the truth is that of all three progressive blocks, the Greens are the only ones who are clear about what they stand for as opposed to what they stand against.

Elm Park Makeover

Yesterday the Elm Park councillors, together with local residents and Simon Jones, our candidate for Parliament, spent several hours clearing up a piece of ground next to the station. The area is right in the middle of Elm Park and it regularly becomes littered with bottles and cans thrown over the fence by inconsiderate scumbags. Because nobody claims ownership it is very difficult to get it cleaned up and weeds were also sprouting.

Supported by the CCHQ social action team, we removed several bags of litter and weeds, before laying gravel on the site, greatly improving the look of the town centre. I was with them in the morning, but missed the conclusion of their efforts as I had to be at a coffee morning in Ilford, but full details are available on David Grantham's blog, including pictures.

I have borrowed one of his photographs, as my camera wasn't working too well - think I know what I will be asking Santa to put in my stocking...

Met Police to Face Assembly Questioning

On Wednesday morning the Police Authority will be facing questions from the London Assembly. They will be represented by their chairman, Boris Johnson, and by acting commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, or one of the assistant commissioners if he can't make it.

With the appointment of a replacement for Sir Ian Blair under consideration, and the arrest of Damian Green MP, this will be a crunch meeting, with the potential for awkward questions.

The Home Office decision to scrap funding for the Met police trafficking unit will also come under scrutiny. This looks odd in the light of all the trafficking that the government claims is taking place, and the much trailed proposals to crack down on prostitution. Consistency has never been Labour's strength...

Cllr David Grantham

David is my ward colleague in Elm Park and he has started his own blog, to enable constituents and friends to keep track of his activities. He has also listed himself as a 'follower' of this blog - whatever that means... Hope it's not like stalking.

David is in his thirties and works long hours as a solicitor in the City. I recently featured his marriage to Edwina, complete with wedding photograph.

It's always good to see politicians take up on-line accountability so I hope that visitors will take time to visit http://www.davidgrantham.blogspot.com/ and leave some positive messages.

Illuminating Elm Park

Last night the Christmas lights were switched on in Elm Park, the honours being done by the Mayor of Havering, Cllr John Clark, and local MP James Brokenshire.

Rain didn't dampen the festivities, nor did the poor economic forecasts, although there were some worries about the future of Woolworths, the largest shop in Elm Park. Small shopping centres need a large store as an anchor for the other outlets and a draw for shoppers, so the loss of Woolies would be a blow to traders.

But with dressing up, children's rides and food on offer, the mood was upbeat last night.

Pictures show the gnomes' grotto, the Mayor with traders in fancy dress, and the Elm Park councillors with a polar bear (local organiser, Ingrid Brandon). Congratulations to Ingrid on a successful evening.

Western Extension Meets Its Waterloo

The relentless march of the congestion charge came to an end today, with the announcement of the results of the public consultation on the future of the Western Extension.

Imposed in the face of bitter local opposition, Livingstone hoped that people would come to love the extended charging zone. This was a forlorn hope, as demonstrated by the public response, with over 60% in favour of outright abolition and over 80% of local businesses calling for the zone to be scrapped. In the face of these figures anyone sensible would concede the point, but Labour's assembly members have gone into bat, claiming the public are wrong and the extension should be retained. Let's be charitable and assume they are still in shock following the May election.

For retailers in the zone this decision represents a lifeline in current economic conditions. It is a more effective contribution than all Gordon Brown's tinkering. Shops will be counting the days to abolition.

And in Havering & Redbridge we can breathe a sigh of relief. Congestion Tax will not be coming to a road near you.

Low Hanging Fruit

Budget committee today considered the savings that will need to be made to freeze the City Hall budget. Deputy Mayor, Sir Simon Milton commented that in his 20 years of experience in local government this had not been a particularly difficult budget to set, with an abundance of 'low hanging fruit' to pick from.

Highlights include:

£1,056k saved by deleting a large number of vacant posts. Some of these had been unfilled for up to five years, yet they appeared in Livingstone's budget every February.

£1,464 from restructuring the Mayor's Office and Press Office.

£174k saved by reducing free lets of our prestigious venue, London's Living Room.

£40k saved by cutting funding for Peace Week.

£771 saved from mayoral stakeholder programmes. These included such gems as the Venezuela Project £66k, Ethnic Media Monitoring £48k, National Assembly Against Racism £60k, and Voter Participation £20k.

Star question of the meeting came from chairman, Labour's John Biggs - "So, Mr Milton, what are the unforeseen risks?"

Fire Authority Meets at City Hall

On Thursday the LFEPA (London Fire & Emergency Planning) board met at City Hall. The change of venue from LFEPA headquarters was made because of fears that protesters would try to disrupt the meeting. In the event few people turned up, including several with Save the Fire Brigade Museum T-shirts, and there was no trouble.


Budget 2008/09

Next year's budget was discussed, and a number of savings - including closure of said museum - were discussed. The authority as a whole voiced its concern and a majority of the members - Labour, Green and Lib Dem - opposed the plans. Unfortunately, despite claiming that there were other ways to save money and balance the budget, Labour members did not propose any alternatives.

They are missing an opportunity to contribute, in my opinion. For the last eight years we were a minority on the authority but our leader, Brian Coleman (pictured), always proposed an alternative budget. Although we lost the vote, we did find that many of our ideas were picked up and implemented the following year! Labour members are in danger of looking negative and devoid of ideas to solve the mess they got the authority into.


Shut in Lifts

One charge that everyone did agree on was levying the cost of rescuing people trapped in lifts. With new blocks of flats - sorry, apartments - sprouting around town, lift maintenance is sometimes not carried out. When the lifts get stuck the brigade is called upon to get people out. In future, after nine free calls, the tenth will be charged to the property owners, hopefully encouraging better maintenance.


Hoax Calls

Recently we debated work done on preventing hoax calls. In the last three years, the brigade has prosecuted six people, four of who were found guilty, with one not guilty and one unfit to stand trial. The penalty is usually a fine, but a short prison sentence can be imposed in serious circumstances.

BNP in the Fire Brigade

Last week's publication of the BNP list led to suggestions that membership be outlawed in the fire service, as it is in the police. Personally, I'm not convinced. Currently BNP members can be elected to bodies that appoint members of fire authorities, creating the illogical prospect of members running the services who would not be allowed to serve in them. That situation would be difficult to explain to our workforce.

A12 Issues

I have just finished a meeting with TfL representatives who came to update me on the projects affecting the A12 in Havering & Redbridge. Progress is being made and we should see some improvements in the coming twelve months.


Gallows Corner

Probably the greatest cause of complaints is the current snarl up at Gallows Corner, caused by the one way operation of the flyover. Earlier this year corrosion was discovered during a refurbishment and this resulted in partial closure.

Unlike most TfL highways structures, the flyover is unique, the only similar bridge being at Hogarth Roundabout on the A3. The new panels and supporting posts need to be designed from scratch and specially fabricated, hence the severe delay.

Detailed design work is scheduled for completion in February 2009 with work starting on site in April. This work will be finished and the site cleared in July, following which two way traffic can resume.


Gants Hill

The drains in the subways have now been cleaned out and the flooding problem which persisted for many years has been largely resolved. Two obstructions have been discovered in the drains and they will need digging up and clearing. This work is scheduled for late December.

A major scheme to improve the surface environment will start in July 2009 and run for a year, during which we can no doubt expect some traffic disruption. TfL are working closely with Redbridge Council and local businesses to keep delays to a minimum.

A proposed piece of public art has been the subject of some controversy between TfL and Redbridge, over who is going to fund the work. Whilst TfL will be paying for highways work where the art will be situated, they will not be paying for the art itself. With a limited budget and major projects being delayed, they do not see public art as a priority, and in the current economic climate I am inclined to agree with them.


Mawney Road Footbridge

The bridge at this junction was removed in 2005 after it was damaged by an overheight vehicle. Last year I presented a petition from local residents, asking for the bridge to be replaced, and since then I have reminded the mayor of their request several times.

TfL state that they will not be replacing the bridge - because of the disability discrimination act! The law now says that footbridges must have ramps, but there is insufficient space to accommodate them at this junction. So because wheelchairs would not be able to cross, nobody is allowed to cross, the law says. In my opinion the law is an ass!

Instead there will be a new crossing at road level with a pedestrian phase introduced at the lights. This will be constructed in spring / summer 2010. Five years without any means of crossing the road here can only be explained by the lack of interest the previous mayor showed in outer London and highways matters in general. I suspect that without the petition - promoted by local councillor Melvin Wallace - a new crossing would still not be a priority.


Barley Lane Footbridge

My thanks to former Redbridge councillor John Coombes, who let me know about the poor state of repairs on this bridge. I raised the issue with TfL who carried out a safety inspection on 6 November.

They identified corrosion of some steps and the surface 'shellgrip' but neither was bad enough to present a trip hazard. Nevertheless repairs are in hand and will take place during March 2009.

"Talent From Trash"

No, it's not another Saturday night television show, but an innovative scheme to encourage football fans to recycle their rubbish. This was just one of the advances in recycling that we discussed at today's environment committee.

Londoners have seriously bought into recycling, with the amount of rubbish recycled increasing every year. Demand for plastics recycling is also rising, with very good return rates for plastic bottles. Other packaging presents more of a challenge, because different types of plastic are used, but technology to sort them has been developed. The next stage is to progress from recycling household waste to recycling packaging from food consumed on the go.


Coke is it

Coca Cola told us about their plan for 80 recycling zones, where customers at venues can deposit their plastic drinks bottles. Five such zones are already in place at:

Thorpe Park
Legoland
Chessington World of Adventures
Festival Place Shopping Centre, Basingstoke
University of Warwick

The London Borough of Bexley - who already have a good record on recycling - are bidding to be one of the 80 zones.


Earls Court & Olympia

These exhibition centres have attained British Standard 8901 for recycling on site. At present their efforts are confined to plastics from shows and exhibition stands, but they are working towards getting restaurants and other outlets on site to provide recyclable packaging.


Marks & Spencer

Representatives told us that their sandwiches are now wrapped in cardboard and they have greatly simplified their use of plastics, now only producing three types of plastic bottles and packaging. Their plastic includes recycled material and they have a contract with the new plastics plant in Dagenham to provide this.

M & S is seen as a leader in this field, with their policy of charging 5p for plastic bags. I often fall foul of this when buying food as, for me, it tends to be an impulse purchase whilst I'm out and about, and I'm not going to carry a shopping bag everywhere on the off chance that I might need it...


London Underground

For LU the big challenge is free newspapers, and this is only too obvious to commuters. 70% of their waste is free sheets and they have introduced newspaper bins at six central London stations. The security threat mitigates against the wide use of bins, but we did hear about a new bomb proof bin that is now available. Unfortunately it costs £25,000 which seems a bit steep for a litter bin, even a large one...

Boris at the London Area Conference

Today the mayor was the key speaker at the London Conservative conference, hosted by Canary Wharf Group at the East Wintergarden in Docklands.

Boris spent much of his speech on the deteriorating economic situation, promising to use all his powers to help London through the crisis. He repeated his by now familiar theme of protecting the wealth creators who are still contributing so much to the city. Socialist envy and blame must not result in tighter regulation which would strangle a recovery. He called upon the government to relax taxation of businesses and stem the current exodus of companies from Britain to more friendly places.

Economies would be sought in the GLA, hence the bonfire of vanity virtual transport projects last week. Encouraging the GLA group to pay bills within ten working days - rather than the present 30 - would greatly assist the cash flow of small and medium suppliers.

Most impressively, he undertook to freeze the council tax precept at its current level, for the first time since the GLA was formed in 2000.

A number of former Labour party supporters turned up and they weren't shy about saying why they had changed sides...

Can we fix London's ailing economy?

YES WE CAN!

Dial A Ride

This morning I visited Dial A Ride HQ in Southwark. They provide an on demand door to door transport service for disabled people, and are a division of TfL surface transport. The fleet is made up of 350 vehicles, including several new minibuses - designed with input from users -which are being rolled out in London Buses colours. I am pictured standing in front of a new vehicle, each of these costs some £65,000.

Recently they have switched to a central call centre and computerised booking system which has been experiencing teething troubles. Members have received complaints from users all over London. I visited the call centre and saw the work being done to improve response times. The time taken to answer the phone is down to an average 1 min 20 secs, but during peak demand times this rises to 3 mins 42 secs. Low numbers but to frail and elderly people hanging on the line it can still seem like an eternity.

An 0845 number is now used, because BT provide the facility to switch lines if there is a technical failure, but some users are concerned that they have to pay so an alternative 0207 number is being introduced.

The number of trips, measured as the number of people carried has also fallen, partly because the service has moved away from 'mass outings' to focus on journeys for individuals, better tailored to their needs.

With new systems still bedding in, Dial A Ride managers appreciate the need to improve the service they provide. In the New Year they will be giving evidence to the Assembly transport committee and they expect to be able to report better performance.

Mayor's Questions

Another monthly question time today, in front of a packed gallery. There were queues to get in this time, although there was no sign of ex mayor Livingstone, for the first time. It felt a bit strange - MQT without Ken was like Hamlet without the skull...

Several residents from Rainham and Hornchurch (pictured above) attended to protest about plans to extend the 372 bus route down their residential roads, and I presented their petition, comprising over 700 signatures. Boris made some supportive noises and I hope the plan - also rejected by Havering Council - is now a dead duck.

There was considerable attention paid to the transport plan and the announcement that a number of high profile 'wish list' projects were to go on the back burner. I'm disappointed to lose the Thames Gateway Bridge, and Labour's John Biggs was incandescent with rage, but south of the river the bridge had few friends and will not be mourned. There was less complaining about the loss of the Cross River Tram, a highly unlikely prospect costing £1.3 billion.

Prodding from Victoria Borwick failed to get a final response on the future of the CC Western Extension. Personally, I hope that the latest consultation has provided a clear rejection of the scheme and that the Mayor has the courage of his convictions, and abolishes the zone extension.

There was unanimous support for a 'dangerous dog action plan', arising from recent attacks. The sad fact is that there are a lot of irresponsible people breeding dogs for fighting or even keeping vicious breeds as fashion accessories. During my walks around London I often encounter dog walkers and in recent years the worst you could expect was an enthusiastic licking from a spaniel or Labrador, but over the last year I have noticed a large number of unpleasant looking mastiffs. The police can take 24 hours to register and process a dog, and the horror hounds remain in kennels for months whilst their fate is decided. We agreed a cross party motion demanding that something be done.

We also agreed cross party on a motion opposing the third runway at Heathrow, even attracting Labour support.

However we could not agree to promote fair trade in all London councils. To my mind, Fairtrade is a great thing, but it should be up to local politicians and their voters to adopt it. The motion was passed by 11 to 10, but only after yet more tiresome moralising from the Greens who seem to be pulling the strings in the so called 'progressive alliance'.

False Alarms

This morning LFEPA's Performance Management & Community Safety Panel received a report on hoax calls.

Amazingly the London Fire Brigade received 9,750 irresponsible hoax calls in 2007/08. Perhaps more surprisingly, we actually have the lowest rate of attendance at hoax calls of any of the UK metropolitan fire and rescue services, since we introduced a procedure involving challenging calls and recording numbers of hoaxers.

Over 1,000 mobile phones have been disconnected by service providers because they were being used for hoax calls.

The problem is particularly bad between 3pm and 5 pm on weekdays and all the time at the weekend. They occur more often during summer months, peaking in August.

The worst borough for hoax calls from 2005 to 2008 was Tower Hamlets with 470, the best being Richmond with 66 (City of London had only 25, but size and a small number of residents makes the City an exception amongst London boroughs). In all boroughs the number of hoax calls has fallen - except for Kingston...

False fire alarms are a particular problem during freshers weeks - indicating that the prank of getting everyone out of bed in the middle of the night is still happening. When I was a student (long ago) the university would make a donation to the Fire Brigade charity whenever they were called out to a false alarm. This was then added to the miscreant's hall fees - might be a good idea today.

Power to the People

Last night saw the first full Peoples' Question Time for Boris. The meeting took place at Bromley Civic Centre in a packed hall, with every one of the 650 seats filled and standing room only. I'm told they had to turn around 200 people away because there was no room for them.

The audience contained large numbers of Boris supporters and there was much cheering and applause when the great man appeared on stage. There were also some whingeing greens who came to complain about the scrapping of the £25 congestion charge and the Venezuela oil deal. At the back were many supporters of Crystal Palace Park, who wanted the mayor to withdraw LDA plans for regenerating the site.

The audience also get to vote on questions at these debates, and the results provide some clues about their motivation. Despite criticisms of PCSOs, the majority of people wanted to see more of them. There was very strong objection (71%) to road charging, probably because cars are essential in large outer London boroughs.

On the Olympics, there was some pessimism, with over 55% believing that 2012 would fail to live up to the standard set by China this year. There was also majority opposition to new supermarkets, which the mayor rightly regarded as hypocrisy - if everyone is so opposed to Tesco, why do they all use the facilities?

For me, the answer is easy. Like many Londoners I'm too busy to spend time buying food in different shops, and I value what spare time I have too highly to spend it standing in queues. I remember my poor mother having to devote whole mornings to shopping when I was young, trudging from shop to shop, encumbered by a pushchair and a pram, weighed down by multiple bags which got heavier in each queue, then the long, long, tiring walk home... Thank goodness we don't have to do that any more.

I was asked how we could improve the performance of the assembly, and suggested a straight 50% majority to approve the budget, rather than the third of members required at present; giving the assembly a vote on the mayor's key strategies; scrapping proportional representation to prevent the election of single issue extremists (Richard Barnbrook did a bit of heckling at this point).

88% of people agreed that local member James Cleverly, did a good job of chairing a sometimes challenging meeting, dealing with hecklers, and a guitar wielding busker who tried to sing a 'song for Boris' before being booed off - how did he smuggle his instrument into the room?

The mayor is planning to do more of these meetings, aiming for six per year rather than the two required by statute. He intends to feature mayoral advisors and commissioners of fire, police and transport, at some of the meetings, rather than just assembly members. Judging by the crowd last night, they will be sell out events.

Communications Revolution

This morning the budget committee questioned mayoral advisors Dan Ritterband and Guto Hari, on the marketing and communications plans. They were well on top of their brief, telling us that:

Within days of the election they had saved £47K by cutting an unnecessary TfL advertising campaign and ending a contract with a PR agency saved City Hall a further £100K per month.

Money had been saved on event promotion. Marketing the RISE music festival cost £45K less but 10,000 more people attended. Marketing the Freewheel cycling event cost £250K less but 15,000 more people took part. All achieved by better targeting of the message.

The http://www.london.gov.uk/ website will be improved, providing more non political content including tourist offers which are currently only available on the Visit London site. The aim was to make London.gov the homepage of choice for Londoners.

There would be regular scrutiny of the mayor with one question time and three press conferences per month, two of the press conferences to be conducted in venues elsewhere in London, bringing the mayor closer to Londoners.

Instead of two Peoples' Question Times per year there would be six, possibly including opportunities to question mayoral appointees and the commissioners of fire, transport and the police.

More sponsorship would be sought, although following the renaming of the O2 and the Emirates Stadium, there were no plans to rebrand City Hall as the Chavez Testicle!

Witnesses from TfL also revealed that 75% of the marketing budget for low fares for income support claimants had been saved by restricting the formerly national campaign to London only.

Havering Book Festival

This morning I attended the launch of the Havering Book Festival at the new Hornchurch Library.

Councillors were invited to donate their favourite book to the book crossing project. These books then go into circulation and we are able to track their progress - using mysterious new technology - and learn what the readers think about them. Naturally, I have put my own book into the project, and I took the opportunity to donate five copies of Gremal Quest to the Havering library service.

Featuring in the picture - left to right - are:

Nikki Dunn, Havering library service.

Cllr Coral Jeffrey

Cllr Andrew Curtin

Cllr Roger Evans

Cllr Georgina Galpin

Cllr John Mylod

Cllr Lynden Thorpe

All with favourite books, which will be available at Fairkytes later this week.

Sir Keith Park

This morning I attended the unveiling of a statue of Battle of Britain hero, Sir Keith Park. This is only a model of the planned artwork but it captures the moment nicely, depicting Park in flying gear as he would have appeared to his fellow fliers whilst directing the defence against the might of the Luftwaffe. Park went on to direct the defence of Malta later in the war. A tribute to this hero is long overdue.

It is hoped that the statue will find a home in Trafalgar Square, on the controversial Fourth Plinth, bringing to an end the parade of embarrassing tat that has defaced the site in recent years.

I'm An Uncle!

For the second time...

Sally, my younger sister, gave birth to a baby girl early this morning. My new niece - Isabel - is in good health, as is her mother. All my good wishes go to them both and to Phil, the proud father.