The mayoral race as it stands
Five London mayoral candidates have announced their support for the banning of vehicles from Oxford Street, including Labour’s candidate Sadiq Khan and the Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith. The pedestrianistion of Oxford Street is intended to provide cyclists and pedestrians with more space, although Westminster Council has said that businesses on Oxford Street were "not in favour of full pedestrianisation". Sadiq Khan said pedestrianizing Oxford Street was part of his vision of "expanding the number of car-free areas across the city"; whilst Zac Goldsmith vowed to "do everything necessary" to make cycling safer.
A recent YouGov survey has shown that Khan and Goldsmith are neck and neck in the race to become the next Mayor of London, with Khan’s support at 51% and Goldmith’s at 49%. Furthermore, when asked which candidate would make the better mayor, 29% of respondents chose Khan and 28% chose Goldsmith; whilst 44% said they were not sure.
YouGov’s editor-in-chief, Freddie Sayers said "What’s remarkable is just how evenly matched the two men are, right down to the different aspects of their personality. Likeable? Its 41%/41%. Good in a crisis? 26%/27%. Up to the job of Mayor? 38%/39%”. However, the most significant difference between the candidates was when people were asked whether the candidates are ‘in touch with ordinary people’; 41% think Khan is, compared to only 18% for Goldsmith. Sayers believes that Goldsmith’s multi- millionaire status is his one weak point and he expects Khan to “make a lot of noise about it”.
Police involvement requested in Garden Bridge bids
The procurement process behind the controversial Garden Bridge proposal, which has provoked the ire of groups from cyclists to bridge engineers, has been criticised by campaigners who have called on Scotland Yard to investigate.
The project, originally conceived by the actress Joanna Lumley, is a plan to bridge the Thames between the existing Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges with a green open space up to 30 metres wide. Before the idea had been pitched to the newly re-elected Boris Johnson in 2012 Ms Lumley had already secured the involvement of the designer Thomas Heatherwick. She said in her 2004 autobiography that Mr Heatherwick would be “happy to work on the bridge” and she included Mr Heatherwick in her request to meet the Mayor in 2012.
Subsequently Heatherwick Studio, run by Thomas Heatherwick who delivered the Olympic Cauldron and the new Routemaster bus, beat the other architects invited to submit designs – despite Heatherwick Studio having designed only a single bridge in the past.
There is already much political interest in the £175m bridge, especially as London Mayoral election hopeful Sadiq Khan has already come out against the scheme saying the £60m of public funding no longer represents value for money and he would scrap it. The £60m from the public purse has also attracted the attention of the fearsome Public Accounts Committee; its Chair Meg Hillier has said the National Audit Office will report any concerns which may arise from their inquiries to her.
Heathrow expansion to "supercharge" Northern Powerhouse?
The Conservative split on Heathrow expansion has this week been dragged to the centre of George Osborne’s flagship policy of the Northern Powerhouse. Heathrow has claimed expansion of the nation’s largest airport would “supercharge” the Chancellor’s plans to build a northern powerhouse, saying it would be a “driving force in rebalancing the UK’s economy”.
In what appears to be an attempt by Heathrow to win over the government and gain support for a third runway at the site, the airport’s campaign claims that expansion would create 95,000 manufacturing jobs alone, of which 85 per cent would be created outside of London and the South East. It has the potential to firm-up the support from the government, which is still to decide on the Davies Commission’s recommendation for expanding the West London airport before Christmas.
Critics of the plans for a third runway however, many of which are prominent voices within the Tory ranks, still believe the move would be a disaster. Both current and prospective Mayors of London Boris Johnson and Zac Goldsmith are staunch opponents. Yet newly appointed Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell (the MP for Hayes and Harlington who sits directly beneath the flightpath) as well as Labour mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan have also made their opposition clear. But with Cameron and Osborne’s ‘one nation’ pitch to Britain, can they now afford to spurn Heathrow in favour of the dissenting voices in the capital?
The London housing crisis is costing the capital £3bn
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has calculated that London’s housing crisis will cost the capital almost £3bn by the end of this year. Its report blames “crippling rents and mortgages” in the capital for the unnecessary loss of £2.7bn from the consumer pay packet.
The report shows that the negative implications of the housing crisis are not limited to homeowners and renters – businesses in London are said to “face higher wage costs and are struggling to maintain staff as a result of the housing crisis, the study found.” With rent prices increasing at an uncontrollable rate, the feat is that many London employees will no longer be able to afford to live in the city.
The report comes at the same time as over 100 business leaders threw their support behind the Fifty Thousand Homes campaign to double house building in London to ease the mounting pressure on businesses.
JBP's Mayoral Watch
- Tower Hamlets activist Andy Erlam, who campaigned to remove former Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman, has annouced that he wants to run to be London mayor.
- Last week Sadiq Khan made a speech at the Institute of Directors where he pledged to follow a pro-trade and pro-business agenda for the capital.