Have your say on London's budget for 2022–23

Caroline Russell's proposed amendment on the Resident Empowerment Fund must be officialised and the figure must be increased so tenants can have equal resources to developers and housing associations. If the Mayor is serious about his priority of securing affordable homes for Londoners he will support this amendment - because what good is building more homes if our existing stock is routinely demolished!

1) No necessary to invest more for police because police need more training how to support Londoners through the law . Police need quality and accountability for abuse power on public . We need quality full ,intellect police officer rather than quantity .
2) We need to take some action against pollution our environment by drug smoke .
People can’t smoke any where they must have some rules where they can smoke. People must avoid smoke on footpath and bus stoppage , underground where is gathering they must stop smoke . Every body smoke on their own campus inside not on the way of other people or on their body , this is nonsense to put smoke on others face like a stupid manners . Smokers must stop this because smoke is injured for health. They can put their health in danger but not others health .
3) Smokers abuse children to make them victim . For young people need more training how they lead their life more intellectually and more gainable .

4) Like bus fair we Londoners need reduce underground fair , within one house same fair.

Shaheena Perveen.

On of the active member of Labour Party Eastham.

Too much money has been spent on cycle lanes, and now cyclists can still drive in the roads infront of drivers and cause congestion and delays. Vehicles have been less polluting so I want to see evidence how the pollution is coming from cars and vans! Factories and burning of wood is causing all this smog so do not spend money on creating ULEZ cameras and stopping everyday traffic from growing the economy in London. We dont want a derelict London.

Please be honest and open about the Silvertown Tunnel. Taxpayers deserve to understand exactly what the benefits and costs of cancelling the project would be. Please be honest about how much it would cost to cancel the construction contract itself. This is a really important matter and I am appalled that this has been kept secret. Also, please say openly how much could be raised be tolling the Blackwall Tunnel without building another tunnel, as well as how much TfL expects to raise from tolls if the Silvertown Tunnel is actually built compared to the PFI costs. The whole financial case must be examined - and we need much more information too about environmental impacts.

Also, extra money for policing needs to be spent sensibly. The Met Police must be held to account eg for failing to investigate Government wrongdoing and instead prosecuting those at a peaceful vigil.

You are doing wonderful things!
It would be great to get motorists out of their cars, to combat global warming, and they tend to be more likely to use trains, trams or bus rapid transit rather than just buses. In Sutton the Croydon-Wimbledon section has taken 15% of motorists out of their cars - world beating! I know that trains and Underground are very expensive, and but trams or bus rapid transit are cheaper. I've been on a BRT fopm Luton to Dunstable - it's just like a tram! And they will contribute so well to global warming by reducing car travel - and cutting emissions and pollution.

The Resident Empowerment Fund that was voted into the draft budget on 24 January is an excellent idea and one that the Mayor should not only sign off into official policy, but fund even more generously.

Yes to more affordable housing.

Give us the Resident Empowerment Fund that was passed at draft budget on 26 January.

No to investing in the police. Defund the police!

To build a brighter and better future, the proposed spending plans include:

£874 million to support the Met Police and £421 million for London Fire Brigade. This will keep London safe by being tough on crime and the causes of crime and ensuring the Met and London Fire Brigade have the resources they need to serve Londoners effectively.
-They would need even more. London isn't safe as it used to be just 10 years ago. Think Stabbing not building.

£4 billion to continue building the affordable housing London needs over the period 2021–26.
-Brighter future in already overcrowded megapolis and keep building tower after tower..... Brighter only for the building firms. At this pace London will become city like Shanghai and Hong Kong. Give chance to the other cities in England. London isn't Britain.

£2 billion to support TfL through the financial crisis caused by the pandemic.
-Is this including the money for TfL Bosses bounces?

Just over £350 million to directly support London’s economy and skill up Londoners in 2022–23.
-To little.
On average £20 million a year to develop a Green New Deal over the next three years. The deal will focus on decarbonising our city and supporting the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs, as well as continuing our work to clean up London’s toxic air and tackle climate change.
-Decarbonizing and overbuilding don't work together. There is something very very wrong here.

£13 million in 2022–23 to develop a New Deal for Young People, who are among the hardest hit by this crisis. This will create opportunities and support to ensure every young person can get on and make the most of their talents.
- More money needed for the young people. Living in the most expensive city in the world isn't easy to any young person.

No comments on the proposed increases etc, but I would say that the Mayor needs to think of ways to make London more attractive for investors and also develop a culture of encouraging ordinary people to learn about investing and financial literacy from an early age. This will have immense benefits going forward as people learn how to create passive income from investing in real assets. The Mayor can also look at other initiatives to raise money, one example is advertising opportunities for large companies. The typical options of billboards and the TFL network is fine, but there are many other creative options which companies would pay for to have their advertisements. London can become much more visual, especially at night and this will also attract more tourist if it is done with clever thought.
One final point about policing and having more officers etc. I think that it is time to make more use of the technology available and apply it to prevent crime and to keep people safe. There are many ways that this can be used effectively despite the concerns about privacy, human rights, freedom etc,. People want to feel safer in London and technological solutions can be a real game changer. For example, an App is used by the NHS to alert us about people we may have been in close contact with covid; it would be quite easy to create similar super Apps for personal safety.

Due to weak govt support, the mayor plans public transport cuts. This would lead to increased traffic pollution, contrary to the need to prioritise the climate emergency and the mayor’s claim to be “the first green mayor of London”.

The 1.5C climate action plan estimated the buildings and infrastructure cost of delivering net zero by 2050 at £61 bn at least. Compared to this, the 2022-23 budget for the Green New Deal, of only £21.8m, is very inadequate. The UK CCIC recently found that the prospects for significant levels of investment in carbon reduction are not strong, and therefore recommended “attaching financial disincentives to activities associated with higher greenhouse gas emissions”. Doing so would enable the mayor to achieve the emissions cuts we need so urgently, using London’s iconic status to set a great example for other cities.

The mayor could very soon, as an interim measure, include vehicles which emit well above the average level of CO2 in the ULEZ criteria. This could be enforced using the existing cameras. 2018 statistics show that nearly 1/6 of UK cars emitted more than 171 grams of CO2 per kilometer. The number of these in the expanded ULEZ would be c. 161,000. If these cars were driven within the ULEZ twice weekly, each would pay £1,250 p.a., totalling £201m. This would enable the mayor to speed progress on Retrofit Revolution, and reduce some of the public transport cuts.

The mayor should prepare to introduce a per mile road user charge. Smart road charging throughout London, at the modest price of £0.08 per mile, would raise £1.14 billion per year, after exempting electric cars and cars driven by or for people with disabilities. A poll three years ago found that nearly three-quarters of Londoners support road charging to reduce pollution.
The Skills Academy lists green training alongside other sectors of the economy which are less vital to London’s short- and long-term well-being. It needs top priority.

This comment is submitted on behalf of Fairer Housing - a group of residents who are bearing the brunt of the housing crisis and the community groups who support them. We are worried that publicly owned land is not being used for 100% social housing; and that property developers working in the OPDC appear. They are making millions by driving residents out of this part of London by forcing up prices with only a small percentage of homes for existing communities who are in desperate need of decent, affordable (i.e a third of disposable income) homes. We are not against progress, but nor do we want to see the destruction of our great city with thrives on long-established communities to provide the services that keeps the City going.

Put all these additional increase of council taxes onto vacant properties. Residential mainly but on commercial as well. Nobody wants to see closed up shops on the high streets yet many landlords rather have them empty then reduce their rental prices to young entrepreneurs who are unable to start their business ideas due to those high rental rates. They are wealthy enough to afford that, so they can cover all these extra expenses for the city.
Just like those wealthy who are having a vacant home as a "London base" for 9 months a year while many are forced to rent as they are unable to buy due to these wealthy people simply outpricing them.

I agree with the priorities; I put them in order from most to least important:

- building more genuinely affordable homes for Londoners;
- selling more genuinely affordable homes for Londoners;
- taking a bigger share (50% minimum) of GENUINE affordable homes for Londoners when licence to build are granted to developers;
- make it possible to buy a residential home with value under 500k ONLY to GENUINE London residents who will live in it;

- supporting our transport network (no price increases and possibly better service especially on older Tube lines / trains especially LESS NOISE)

- skilling up Londoners for well-paid jobs

- providing more opportunities for young Londoners to reach their full potential.

- investing more in the police

- tackling air pollution and the climate emergency

- supporting businesses during this difficult time.

Thank you.

I would like the Mayor to provide funding for democratically constituted tenants' and residents' associations on housing estates that are threatened with demolition/regeneration. This is so that they can compete on a more equal basis with councils, housing associations and developers who have the resources to present a deceivingly rosy picture of the regeneration process, or make it appear there is no other option. They would be able to obtain the information they need and communicate it to all their fellow tenants. The ballot system will not be a true reflection of tenants' interests until this is the case.

REDUCE RENTS.
Use the difference to pay for everything.
Prevent wastage of money and resources.
I see obvious answers to issues but those in charge don't.
The Met. see Partygate but fail to protect those threatened by criminals and violence (Chippenham Rd. W9 yesterday)

@Stilli, with respect I don't think it's true that the majority of people who drive into London do so because they can't get all they need to carry onto a bicycle. Different people need to carry different amounts with them (I often ride with at least a change of clothes and some equipment) but most of the cars that pass me contain only the driver, and sometimes a passenger - no sign of anything that cannot be carried on a bicycle. I can see that if you need to carry, say, ladders or bulky tools to a job then you'd struggle to use a bicycle, but that accounts only for a minority of drivers.