Kensington, Chelsea & Fulham
Conservatives

Mayor of London Newsletter March 2009

05 March 2009

Boris £6m parks bonanza

4th March, Boris confirmed the winners of the priority parks scheme- a key manifesto commitment. Over 100,000 Londoners voted to decide the 10 parks across all areas of London to benefit from up to £400,000 each. One park (Burgess Park, Southwark) will receive a special grant of £2m.

The winning parks are;

Lordship Recreation Ground in Haringey; Dollis Valley Green Walk in Barnet; Mayesbrook park in Barking and Dagenham; Fairlop Waters Country Park in Redbridge; Brent River Park in Ealing; Little Wormwood Scrubs in Kensington and Chelsea; Parish Wood Park in Bexley; Avery Hill Park in Greenwich; Crane Riverside Park in Richmond and Hounslow; Wandle Park in Croydon.

Boris said; "Improving local green spaces is the key to improving quality of life in our city, especially in the outer Boroughs that were neglected for so long over the past 8 years. I promised to do something about this, and now local parks are set to become much more pleasant places."

Help for first time buyers

3th March, Boris has launched a multi-million pound scheme to help thousands of Londoners into affordable home ownership and kick start affordable housing developments that have stalled due to the recession.

'First Steps'- a manifesto commitment- is designed to make home ownership affordable. A £42 million investment will support the delivery of nearly 500 ‘intermediate rent’ homes, which will offer occupiers a discounted rent (at 80% of the market rate) for as long as they need, until they are in a position to buy. When they are able to buy, they will also be able to get a 5% discount on the overall value of the property.

Boris is also investing £93m over the next 12 months to kick start developments that have stalled, and ensuring the delivery of at least 1,500 homes.

Boris said; "The whole country is suffering from a housing crisis, and I want London to lead the way in solving it. I am determined to help those Londoners who were stranded during the boom years and are now really struggling during the downturn. This investment will be a shot in the arm to our economy- getting homes built and protecting construction jobs."


East London Line Phase 2

12th Feb, Boris announced he has reached a deal with the Government over the funding for East London Line Phase 2. This will create an orbital railway for the capital. The scheme will link Surrey Quays on the East London line extension to Clapham Junction, providing direct links to the City and Docklands.

It will be completed before the Olympics at a cost of £75m.

Boris said; "I promised Londoners that where funds were made available we would build the improvements they need. And it will be a real achievement when our Overground services are fully oysterised. I am delighted that a long hard slog of negotiations between ourselves and the Department of Transport has borne fruit that will result in a superb new service for thousands of Londoners."


Council tax

11th Feb, Boris' first budget was approved by the London Assembly, resulting in a GLA precept freeze for the first time in 8 years. This follows Ken Livingstone's record 152% increase during his two terms in office. The freeze will benefit 3 million households, and is achieved through making efficiency savings. His budget will deliver savings that do not impact on frontline services. Key measures include;

- 500 extra uniformed officers on buses and at suburban rail stations

- £6m to improve 11 London parks

- 24 hour Freedom Pass

- 10,000 streets trees

Boris said; "The first duty of every politician at this time is to ease the financial burden on the taxpayer. I have drawn a line in the sand and stopped the relentless increases under Ken, and I've done it by stopping spending on cosy lunches with south American kleptocrats, scrapping The Londoner propaganda sheet and reducing unnecessary spending across the board- whilst protecting front line services."


Street trees

12th Feb, Boris announced the planting of the first 1,500 street trees as part of his manifesto commitment to deliver 10,000 street trees by 2012. The first batch will be planted in the following areas; Havering (62 trees), Southwark (122 trees), Tower Hamlets (145 trees), Islington (230 trees), Haringey (250 trees), Merton (47 trees), Brent (100 trees), Redbridge (70 trees), Newham (380 trees) and Hillingdon (51 trees).

These have been funded through savings made from scrapping Ken Livingstone's propaganda sheet, The Londoner.

Boris said; "I have made it a top priority that we make our city a more attractive place to work, live and visit and reversing the decline of street trees is one way for us to do this. I cannot think of a more uplifting way to usher in the spring than the arrival of these brand spanking new trees."


Phase 3 of Low Emission Zone

2nd Feb, Boris announced that he would suspend the 3rd phase of the Low Emission Zone. This would have applied to small vans and minibuses- many of which are owned by small businesses. They would have had to meet strict environmental standards, and many faced paying either £2,000 for the right emissions equipment or up to £15,000 to replace their vehicles. This could have tipped many small businesses over the edge.

The first two phases apply to the heaviest polluters like lorries, and is currently working well. Boris will pursue other measures to improve air quality in London.

Boris said; " I want to do all I can to ease the burden of the economic downturn that is affecting us all at this time. Although the Low Emission Zone has been successful in tackling the worst polluters, and will continue to play an important role, it is not the right time to press ahead with extending it to include smaller vehicles like vans and minibuses. Simply put, the cost of fitting pollution equipment or getting a new vehicle would have come as punch in the ribs to those who need our help at this time, would have destroyed profit margins, and endangered our small businesses."

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats in London have opposed the decision.

Other measures to improve air quality include;

· Introducing 56 hybrid buses to the London fleet by the end of February 2009, the largest fleet of hybrid buses in the UK. A further 300 new hybrid buses will join the fleet by March 2011, after which it is expected that all new buses entering service in London will be hybrids.

· Delivering eight hydrogen hybrid fuel cell buses, emitting nothing but water, next year.

· Funding of £1m to trial low carbon technology in London's taxi fleet. The aim of the programme is to reduce CO2 emissions from taxis, although it is also likely to deliver benefits for local air quality. It is intended that prototype vehicles will be produced by the end of October 2009, with trial vehicles on the road by March 2010