The GLA Act 2007 – Q & A

How does the GLA Act 2007 relate to the GLA Act 1999?
What does the GLA Act 2007 seek to achieve?
What are the main measures in the Act?
What are the new powers on housing and planning?
What other new powers are there for the Mayor?
What new powers are there for the London Assembly?
What other changes are there?
When do the new powers take effect?
Why will the Mayor not be chairing the new London Waste and Recycling Board?
Was the GLA Act 2007 changed much during its progress through Parliament?
What are the resourcing implications of the new powers?
What happens next?

How does the GLA Act 2007 relate to the GLA Act 1999?
The Greater London Authority (GLA) was established by the GLA Act 1999. A second piece of legislation relating to the GLA received Royal Assent in October 2007. The GLA Act 2007 supplements and updates the GLA Act 1999 and grants the Mayor of London and the London Assembly new powers.

What does the GLA Act 2007 seek to achieve?
This piece of legislation builds on the widely recognised success of London government since it was re-established in 2000, by devolving further key powers from Whitehall to London government.

The restoration of city-wide strategic government to London has led to real and significant improvements to many aspects of life in the capital – transforming transport provision, increasing policing numbers and winning the bid to stage the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The new powers and responsibilities for the Mayor in the areas of planning, housing, health and the environment will help to maintain London's success by tackling the unique challenges the capital faces, particularly in accommodating and promoting substantial population and economic growth.

What are the main measures in the Act?
The provisions of the Act:

devolve decision-making on the planning of and investment in new affordable housing in London from Whitehall to London government;
provide a better balance between strategic and local planning issues in London;
devolve responsibility from Whitehall to the Mayor to tackle climate change and health inequalities in London;
create a new London Waste and Recycling Board;
give the Mayor some new powers of appointment;
strengthen the Assembly’s scrutiny powers and improve other aspects of GLA governance.

What are the new powers on housing and planning?
The new Mayoral powers relating to housing and planning will help support the delivery of more affordable housing in London. The Mayor – rather than Whitehall – will be responsible for London’s housing strategy, and for the Ł1 billion per annum regional housing budget, which will support 50,000 new affordable homes over the next three years.

The Mayor will have new powers to ‘call in’ and determine major planning applications where a borough is failing to follow London Plan policies or where there is unreasonable delay in making decisions. In future, all planning applications for 150 homes and over will be included, which should help the supply of badly needed new affordable housing. At present, the Mayor cannot ‘call in’ or positively determine planning applications. He only has a power to direct boroughs to refuse major applications they have already approved.

Boroughs will remain in charge of planning decisions, so long as they are taking proper account of the need for affordable homes and other London Plan policies. The Mayor will only intervene if these are being ignored. The Mayor also has new powers to insist that boroughs’ local development plans are consistent with his London Plan.

What other new powers are there for the Mayor?
The Act devolves responsibilities from Whitehall to the Mayor to tackle climate change and health inequalities in London. The Mayor will produce new statutory strategies for climate change adaptation, climate change mitigation and energy and health inequalities. Consultation on these new strategies can begin immediately, under transitional clauses included in the Act.

The Mayor is also being given new powers of appointment. He will appoint two members of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) and have a power of direction over that body’s activities. He will also act as the co-sponsor (along with the Corporation of London) of the Museum of London and appoint half of the Museum’s Board.

Through other pieces of related legislation passed in the 2006-07 session, the Mayor will chair the London Skills and Employment Board, which will oversee the development and implementation of a skills strategy for the capital. He will also appoint (or choose to be) the chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA).

What new powers are there for the London Assembly?
The Act supports and expands the Assembly’s scrutiny powers in a number of ways. The Assembly will hold confirmation meetings for key Mayoral appointments, set its own budget and publish its own annual report.

The Mayor will also be subject to an explicit duty to have regard to responses to consultation by the Assembly in preparing or revising his statutory strategies and, when not accepting the Assembly’s advice, provide a timely response with reasoned justifications. The resources required by the Assembly to undertake its scrutiny role will, for the first time, be protected by allowing the Assembly to set its own budget.

What other changes are there?
The GLA’s Chief Executive will assume responsibility for City Hall staffing matters, including the size of the GLA’s staffing establishment and staff’s terms and conditions. The Authority’s three statutory officers will be joint appointments by the Mayor and Assembly.

When do the new powers take effect?
The Act’s provisions will take effect at four different points over the next six months:

30 October 2007:
Assembly’s ring-fenced budget
2 January 2008:
Housing, Climate Change Adaptation and Health Inequalities strategies

LFEPA: appointments and power of direction

New GLA staffing arrangements
23 January 2008 (date dependent on timetable for Orders):
Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Strategy

Confirmation hearings
6 April 2008:
Determination of significant planning applications

Museum of London sponsorship role and appointments to the Museum of London Board

Why will the Mayor not be chairing the new London Waste and Recycling Board?
The Mayor has decided not to participate in the London Waste and Recycling Board as it does not pose a solution to London's waste issues. The Mayor is instead looking to work with the commercial sector to deliver the vital waste infrastructure London needs, and London's first plastic recycling plant, in partnership with the private sector, is already under construction. What is needed are fewer boards debating the problem and more powers to act.

Was the GLA Act 2007 changed much during its progress through Parliament?
Only a small number of minor changes were made to the Act as it passed through Parliament. Many Opposition amendments were tabled during the Bill's passage, including a number that would have undermined the Mayor's ability to deliver more affordable housing in London.

Two amendments were passed in the House of Lords but subsequently overturned by the House of Commons: One would have limited the Mayor to two terms in office – a proposal without precedent in the British democratic system. The Mayor believes that politicians should be accountable to the people via the ballot box, and that the people of London should have the right to choose their next Mayor through an unfettered democratic choice in the next Mayoral elections. The second amendment would have allowed the Assembly to amend the Mayor’s budget by simple majority rather than two-thirds majority, dismantling one of the pillars of the GLA – a directly elected Mayor acting as the executive. This new model of government has delivered for London and should not be diluted.

What are the resourcing implications of the new powers?
The Mayor has been keen to stress throughout this review of the GLA’s powers that it is not an exercise in bureaucratic growth. Additional staff numbers have been kept to a minimum and are expected to equate in total to a dozen new posts in City Hall. The Government Office for London (GOL) has re-organised and reduced its staff numbers by almost 30 per cent.

What happens next?
The third term of the new style Mayoralty runs from 2008 to 2012 and the new powers will be used in that period to the benefit of the city.