Have your say on the proposed London Budget for 2021-2022

Football matches cost each tax payer millions every year in policing costs yet the clubs dont contribute much if anything. Any football clubs should reduce players ridiculous pay packets if necessary to contribute to policing football matches so that they cover a minimum of 90% of the cost of policing the areas around them on match days or be forced to pay for more private security to reduce the impact on tax payers and ultimately budgets.

Yes it may be the few who cause the issue but why should the tax payer bear the brunt of the costs for a match when the clubs can make billions a year depending on who / where they are.  

Priority should be given to services, primarily health, which will aid the recovery from Covid-19 and its impacts. That will require some support for business and education to help us get back on our feet. Standardisation of services such as refuse collection and recycling capability should be considered, across the boroughs, where there are opportunities for economies of scale. However, in general, I would suggest that by and large the budget allocation should maintain a status quo of current services. The reason for this, is that now is the time to consider a root and branch re-imagination of London. The pandemic has put changes that were happening anyway on fast forward. The high street is dead. A huge percentage of workers who are home-working will never return to London on a full time basis. With less workers and shoppers (and tourists in the short term) we need to consider radical changes to ensure London remains a world city. I'll throw out a few ideas. Specialty villages - encourage markets and artisan stores specialising in specific products (food, clothes, tech, toys, homeware); Music hubs - develop a range of music venues of various sizes ensuring easy access to live music from all areas of London and beyond; put in the infrastructure to allow large parts of Central London to be effectively car free and promote London as such around the world; focus on the infrastructure required to boost the nigh time economy and make London the safest 24 hour city in the world; apply for every global and European event going. Once thos plans are in place, we will need to adjust the budget allocation.

The Mayor needs to target more money to achieving modal shift in transport, away from private cars and towards active travel. He needs to take people with him and explain and demonstrate the benefits by making it easy and pleasant to walk and cycle, across London (not just in the central areas - North West London is a desert for infrastructure). Do not allow planning permission for business premises with parking spaces, other than for Blue Badge holders, and ensure that businesses and new blocks of flats all provide secure cycle parking space for as many people as are likely to need them, in convenient places, under cover. Ensure that GP surgeries have cycle racks outside them to promote the health of their patients. Repurpose car parking spaces to become bike hangars which will also take adapted and non-standard cycles, and cargo bikes. Make on-street cycle parking charges reflect the amount of space taken up, compared with car parking charges. Have cargo bike hire stations on street corners. Promote and enable car clubs in all areas of London so that people feel less need to own a car and just rent one when they need it. Set targets for reducing the acreage of car parking on public space and increasing green space, including pocket parks and places for people to sit and rest. Sponsor cycle hubs in every borough to enable people to learn to cycle, seek advice, go on rides, learn to maintain their cycle and repair and recycle bikes. Support cycling for people with disabilities by funding charities which offer adapted cycles and tuition. Ensure that every borough develops a comprehensive and joined-up plan to enable all sorts of cycling as transport, for all parts of the community, including the soft measures outlined above and safe cycle lanes on main roads, low-traffic neighbourhoods and cycle/walking priority areas. Better public health through active travel will help defeat Covid-19 and revive our economy.

"TfL invested £55 million in the first half of 2020-21 on Active Travel initiatives, including Streetspace which saw the delivery of more than 66km of new cycle lanes, 180 pedestrian spaces, 88 Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and 322 school streets - with a similar amount planned for the second half of 2020-21."

I'm absolutely disgusted to read this - what a complete waste of money, the new cycle lanes and LTN's have caused real issues in local communities, including increased congestion and pollution.  They have been to the detriment of the majority of residents and were introduced without proper consultation and without much thought.  I hope that no new budget will be allocated towards these.  The mayor needs to stop being anti-car and look at ways to improve transport for all Londoners, including car users.

Sort out the housing so that hardworking people can actually afford to live here. Why are so many new high end developments being given permission to tear down existing spaces and build unaffordable apartments. Why are council houses only given to people who have inside connections with people who work in the council while honest london workers wait years for one. I know of many people who have second houses and got council houses in just a few months because they knew someone working in the department. Shameless.

Spent millions on Covid cycle lanes all around London, then scraped them after relising how impossible think is to try to force Londoners on there bikes, creating a stationery traffic, polluting the air after lifting the first lockdown.

Immediately scrap and refund the raised £15 CC charge for key workers needed to go in to the CC zone for work and stop making differences between black cab and private hire drivers benefit,also scrap all blocked roads since March 2020 just to raise few thousands for local councils.

Raised CC to £15 for every single day since March last year is only a drop in the Ocean for the London Mayor yearly budget but a huge amount to pay for working people who must drive in to the zone and being penalised buy charging them £15 every day to do there work just because considered as key worker.

I would suggest it might be wise to explain about the vaccine.  Some think that once you have received it, you are OK to be

out and about again.   Is it known if this vaccine will provide protection for all mutations.  How many people need to be vaccinated

before it becomes safe to be mixing in the wider population.    After you have been vaccinated, how long to wait before it becomes effective.

Money should be allocated to creating more green spaces ( green as in attracting wildlife as well as people).: new developments should have mandatory green space, gardens, edibles....etc will need joined up thinking to enhance green corridors for people and nature. So important for physical and mental health not to mention the wildlife ...

The Mayor needs to cut the number of advisors he employs all om Fat Cay salaries. He based on his performance has Mayor should take a 99% pay cut.

The current mayor has acted outside the law with his covic street closures and should pay the legal costs and fines out his personal pocket.

Mr Khan should be barred for 25 years from holding publoc office

Any budget should have as its focus a sharp, defined, targeted and specific 'Regeneration Of And For The People Of London'. Coming out the the pandemic, which will be achieved, albeit with so much sadness where lives across the board have been ravaged including the trading of small businesses lost of their interpersonal format to supply a service or a unique and particular commodity to the people of London should all be considered rather than that some impersonal regeneration is with funding farmed out to powerful lobbyist outsider entrepreneurs sucking up the funds for the benefit of faceless office-block building plutocrats and their 'indifferent to the cares of others shareholders' living abroad.      

Surely the mayor should be allocating more money to infrastructure and construction projects in order to boost a rapid return to industry. Why can't we get these private companies to test on site to reduce the spread to workers? Looking at the total cost of these 'free' testing services it would cost the public purse far less to use private companies. If the Govt can get away with paying 1000 consultants a £1000-£7000 a day and for what, we the public must be stupid or completely blind. Can you not see that all this money is going to their friends and family???? That Dido Harding. Test these workers on site and on nights and you will not need to close down these projects which is currently being threatened due to crowded pictures of ghe tube. Put more money into supporting zlondon business, mandatory testing for those who wish to use restaurants, pubs and theatres and they WILL cooperate as they want to use the service. They can have cards that can be checked using a mobile. If tested negative within 3 days then the likelihood of spreading the disease to others who have tested similar will be nigh on zero. Keep ULEZ but scrap the Congestion Charge. Make a choice, more cycle lanes or a London recovery. Mr mayor, in years to come what will your legacy be. A man with a dream to make London into a garden city or the man who made London a Ghost town. Its in your hands. Have a look at the Australian Smart Cities model for some inspiration.

Santander scheme needs to be developed further south of the River. It  is a convenient, effective and healthy means of getting around, which I used to use a lot when I lived further in London.

South of the river, there are barely any docking stations and the bus swrvice is not so frequent. Santander cycles, especially near stations would make q huge difference.

Londoners need access to open spaces and health facilities such as affordable gyms, running tracks and maybe tennis courts in park. Especially for children.

Many Londoners live in small flats and need simple open safe spaces for fresh air and exercise. More community health care centres with pitches and courts would be good. Most gyms are £50/60 per month. We need affordable basic access to fitness equipment e.g. facilities such as gym group who keep costs low by not maintaining expensive  spas and swimming pools. most people Just need some basic fitness equipment and weights.

Thanks for the opportunity to comment. 

Just two comments to add to the many good points already made. I'm pleased to see the many cycle lanes being added- except the one along the Euston Road. Why oh why put cyclists onto one of the most busy, polluted, main routes across London? Hopefully it will become less busy and polluted with cleaner and fewer vehicles but it will never be clean and clear. Businesses will always need vehicles for delivery. Buses and cabs will always run. 

A cleaner, quieter east-west cycle route could be made along parallel roads - eg Gower Place, Endsleigh Gardens, Woburn Walk, Flaxman Terrace etc. I know Gower Place is one way in the wrong direction for vehicles at the moment but a dedicated cycle lane could be made. The present cycle lane on Euston Rd hardly gets used but causes massive congestion and I have seen ambulances stuck in the traffic trying to get to the hospital. 

Second point - with market prices of 'high end' properties still in the stratosphere, surely another council tax band could be added - anyone who can afford a £ multi-million flat can afford a bit more. That will not solve the budgetary problems but could raise some income without much pain. 

Jenny

PS. The abbreviation CMT is used without an explanation of what it stands for.  A quick web search shows that it means "Corporate Management Team".  Of course without any more detail this doesn't really help us to judge whether the 4.2 million pounds expenditure by them is what we really need to spend our money on!

1. "accelerating growth in the green economy" -- the only way we are going to meet our climate targets is by reversing growth.  A better target would be to reduce growth in the non-green economy.  I would suggest a per-mile tax on cars, though it is hard to collect.  A tax on petrol would have to taper off with distance from central London up to about 60 miles to discourage people from driving away to fill up.  I am sure it could be set at a level where the extra petrol driving to a more distant filling station would cost more than the saving made in tax.

2. I would suggest a couple of actions to address the lack of affordable housing:

(a) a propaganda campaign to discourage well-off people from moving to London

(b) publicity explaining that a house price crash is on the way, to discourage people from investing in buy-to-let, and encouraging them instead to invest in pension schemes and green energy infrastructure.

These policies are entirely possible.  What is not possible is to get re-elected after implementing them (or to get the necessary enabling legislation through Parliament which I expect would be needed for the fuel tax).

The Mayor should lobby the Government for the following actions which should help raise public funds which will benefit the UK as a whole and filter down to aid London.

Bicycles : Compulsory road tax and insurance. The road tax and the 12% Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) would boost the public purse.

Electric Scooters: The Road Traffic Act 1988 forbids the use of personal e-scooters on a public highway and riders can face fines of £300. This law needs to be enforced.

Child Benefit: A temporary 3-year suspension of benefit for any child born after 1 January 2022. This date gives people with foresight the ability to plan ahead now. If this results in a reduction of births it would also assist with the long term housing crisis and save on education costs in the long term.

Green Policies: A temporary 3-year suspension of spending any more money on environmental/green initiatives in order to concentrate finances on getting the economy back on track more rapidly.

I also think the metro mayors and offices should be scrapped and power returned to the councils.  It is an expense that does not add value.