Andrew Dismore

Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly member and parliamentary candidate for Hendon challenged Mayor Johnson at Mayor’s Question Time, over how few visits he had paid to outer London in 2013 , in his capacity  as Mayor as shown by his official diary for last year. (For Mr Dismore’s questions see below)

After MQT Mr Dismore said:

“It is outrageous that the  Mayor spends so little time in his official capacity as Mayor in outer London, including Barnet, where he only came once and that was to the Peel centre.

“The Mayor says that he come more often, but that is not  good enough, if those visits are Conservative Party campaign stunts, where he meets selected audiences. He needs to talk to ordinary people about their experiences.

“He is happy to spend time with developers and speculators in central London and overseas, but is less willing to meet people who are affected by his plans. It is  about time he came to Colindale not just to visit the Peel centre  but  to see impact of the overdevelopment he has approved  and its effect on the community. He needs to hear from local people on the spot about the  lack of infrastructure and his failure to deal with it. About the lack of more medical facilities, road and public transport capacity, and the impact on parking.

“The Mayor should come to  West Hendon to talk  to people  affected by the 28 storey towers he has  approved to be built by the edge of the Welsh Harp. He should come and see the impact this will have on the local environment and wildlife.

“But he will not do so. He is a zone 1 mayor, who prefers to dine at the Savoy than visit the ordinary people of Barnet, to hear their concerns about crime and policing, public transport and overdevelopment. Once elected, he could not care less about Barnet and the rest of outer London. He is a hypocrite.”

Mr Dismore’s questions to the Mayor:

Oral Update: Could the Mayor update the Assembly on his diary commitments for 2013 following the revelations on the BBC Sunday Politics this week.

1 You had overseas trips to Zurich, Nice, Paris, Dubai, China and Kuwait. No problem in you promoting London overseas, but don’t you think Londoners who will be affected by the property schemes you discuss abroad could have the same amount of your valuable  time to discuss the impact of your  plans on them as the  overseas developers to whom you pay court?

 

2 In 2013 you visited the Savoy Hotel three times but that’s more visits than you made to Barnet: your solitary visit was not to meet local people but to the Police College. Brent fared  no better with only one-  to the Champions League final at Wembley, again hardly to meet local people. The Savoy  also saw more of you than Bromley, Bexley, Croydon, Enfield, Greenwich, Haringey, Hillingdon, Lewisham, Merton, Sutton or Richmond. You are a zone 1 mayor aren’t you?

 

3 BBC Sunday Politics played clip after clip of you attacking your predecessor for spending more time in Havana than Havering. As you spent more time in Paris than in Purley, in Nice than Neasden,  and in Doha than Dagenham, you are nothing but a hypocrite , aren’t you?