The Mayor of London has confirmed further appointments to the team set to deliver his key priorities including more jobs and economic growth in a cleaner, greener and healthier city (Tuesday 15 May).
A key element of the Mayor's jobs and growth agenda is the opportunity created by London's green jobs. Work done in the Mayor's first term established that thousands of jobs could be created through the Mayor's flagship green programmes, including making buildings more energy efficient, planting trees, overhauling parks and promoting new technologies for waste. The Mayor is determined that these programmes continue to move into large-scale delivery so as to produce wider economic and environmental benefits to Londoners. This includes the Mayor's recent commitments to plant thousands more street trees, create 300 acres of new green space, as well as retrofitting tens of thousands of buildings.
To achieve this ambitious delivery, City Hall environment programmes will be incorporated into the relevant areas. For example, the Mayor's new housing powers and significant associated budget creates unprecedented opportunities to scale up the RE:NEW and RE:FIT building retrofit programmes. This work will be overseen by the Mayor's new Deputy Mayor for Housing, Land and Property. To ensure consistency across all the environment programmes, a high-level strategic group of the Mayor's key advisors involved in these areas will meet regularly and will be the primary vehicle for driving forward these crucial environmental priorities.
The Mayor is appointing Matthew Pencharz as Environment Advisor both to coordinate this essential work across the Mayor's team and to focus on particular areas, including delivering a high quality of life in the capital through the continued protection and creation of green space, boosting recycling and turning London's waste into a resource, planting more trees and delivering further improvements to air quality. Matthew has been a key part of the Mayor's team, serving as his political advisor in his first term. He has had a career in broadcast journalism, spending 3 years on the network segment of BBC One's Politics Show, where he focused primarily on environment and energy stories. He was latterly a producer on BBC Breakfast, responsible for the programme's political output.
Rosie Boycott will continue in her role as Chair of the London Food Board, promoting and delivering programmes to make London a fairer, healthier city along with an enhanced local environment. Rosie has spent the last four years overseeing the Mayor's Capital Growth programme and seeking a strong legacy for London's important food sector stemming from the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Also reappointed is Kate Hoey as the Mayor's Commissioner for Sport. Kate will continue working to increase opportunities for Londoners of all ages to participate in sport, raising further funds for investment and ensuring a strong sporting legacy for communities as a result of this summer's events.
The Mayor, Boris Johnson, said: 'Creating jobs and stimulating growth are my top priorities for the next four years. A key part of this is my determination to deliver a world class quality of life and strong, healthy communities. My aim is to ensure London is a city where people - and businesses – opt to work, live and play. My top team reflects these priorities, all of whom bring a wealth of talent and enthusiasm to our shared aim of improving life for Londoners.
'I want to also pay fulsome tribute to Kulveer Ranger, who is leaving City Hall to take on fresh challenges. Kulveer has been a core member of my team over the last four years, taking on both transport and environmental challenges to deliver a raft of world beating programmes. Under his stewardship, we have kick-started a cycle revolution which has included the creation of London's flagship bike hire scheme, now an integral and well-loved part of London's transport network.'
Barbara Windsor is confirmed as retaining her role as the Mayor's Ambassador for street parties, acting as a champion for community events. Barbara will build on her work in partnership with the Big Lunch and others, ahead of London's Jubilee celebrations. Annie Lennox is also set to continue as the Mayor's HIV Ambassador, working to raise awareness and challenge stigma regarding HIV and AIDS in London.
Notes to editors
For media enquiries please call Hilary Merrett, the Mayor’s Press Office on 020 7983 4755. Numbers not for publication.
For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000.
For non-media enquiries please call the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.
Kate Hoey was appointed as London's first Commissioner for Sport in 2008. She was tasked with increasing participation in sport and 'A Sporting Future for London', was published in Spring 2009. In order to deliver the priorities set out in this strategy, Kate set up the Mayor's Sports Legacy Programme, backed by £15.5 million of public funding. This programme has now invested in over 60 sporting facilities, trained over 10,000 Londoners as coaches and officials; provided funding to over 500 small sports clubs and community groups; and invested in a range of exciting and innovative projects focused on driving up participation. She has also secured match funding of over £25 million for the programme, making a total investment of over £40 million over the past three years. In addition, through her role as Chair of the London Community Sports Board, Kate is working to ensure a more coordinated approach to community sport. By working with Sport England, local authorities, national governing bodies and other key stakeholders, she is helping to ensure that as much investment as possible is drawn into London and that this investment is deployed as efficiently and effectively as possible. Kate's role is unpaid.