Andrew Dismore

Sadiq Khan, has published his first draft budget, which the Assembly is scrutinising in detail  over the next 3 months.

 

The draft budget confirms plans to invest £3.2bn to deliver affordable housing, doubling the amount spent on tackling London’s poor air quality and freezing all Transport for London fares for four years.

 

The Government is making significant cuts in the Met’s funding for next year. (see the section on policing in this report for details).  In response, the budget proposes to close this gap, partially through proposals announced to increase the policing share of council tax bills by an average of 8p a week from April 2017 to help maintain police officer numbers across London.

 

The draft 2017/2018 budget covers the entire Greater London Authority Group – including Transport for London, the London Legacy Development Corporation, the Metropolitan Police service and the London Fire Brigade. Its plans include:

 

• A record-breaking investment of £3.15 billion to support 90,000 new genuinely affordable homes in the capital over the next five years;

 

• A freeze on all TfL fares for four years, while protecting concessions and extending the new Hopper bus fare;

 

• Maintaining the strategic target of 32,000 police officers for London against the backdrop of significant Government cuts to police funding for London, with real neighbourhood policing for all and better support for victims;

 

• Tackling London’s filthy air that is resulting in 9,400 deaths every year by doubling the amount spent on improving air quality from £425m committed by the previous Mayor to £875m through to 2021/22;

 

• Record investment in modernising our transport infrastructure including the biggest Tube capacity growth London has ever seen, extending the London Overground and Northern lines, starting planning for the Bakerloo Line extension and progressing new east London river crossings;

 

• Continuing to work with London’s businesses, investors and innovators to ensure London’s key sectors are protected and Londoners’ economic opportunities maximised during the forthcoming negotiations to leave the European Union.

 

• Launching a Skills for Londoners taskforce, to ensure skills training meets the needs of London’s economy.
• A proposed additional commitment of £4m on culture as a top priority for London, to fund new projects including London Borough of Culture, Creative Enterprise Zones and a vision for 24-hour London.

 

• A shift towards more active and healthier travel for Londoners, by making walking and cycling easier, safer and more attractive;

 

• A target to dispatch a fire engine within 10 minutes to any incident anywhere in London 90 per cent of the time. This is an improvement on the current standard;

 

• A commitment to speed up the delivery of housing on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park;

 

• Support for London’s largest opportunity area through the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation.

 

A consultation document that sets out the Mayor’s proposals is available on the Greater London Authority website at: www.london.gov.uk/budget