Sadiq Khan gets green light to increase council tax and business rates to tackle violent crime February 25, 2019 The London Assembly has backed Sadiq Khan's budget which includes plans to give an extra £234m to policing and tackling violent crime through council tax and business rate hikes. Around £95m has already been announced for the Metropolitan police, which has to make £263m worth of cuts by 2022-23. The £95m announced last December will be funded mostly from [...]
Crossrail bosses hope to give estimate for new opening date ‘by April’ February 25, 2019 London mayor Sadiq Khan has said there is no date that Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild can give "with confidence" for when the delayed railway will open, but that he hopes to give an estimate by the end of this financial quarter. The £17.6bn Elizabeth Line, which will stretch from Shenfield in the east to Reading in the [...]
U-Lez Miserable? London’s small businesses need support on new emissions rules February 25, 2019 A week is a long time in politics, or so goes the famous adage by former Prime Minister Harold Wilson. And it is apparent that a week and a half will be a very long time indeed in the world of small businesses, between 29 March and 8 April. With our departure from the European [...]
Critics hit out at Sadiq Khan’s ‘blunt’ junk food advertising ban to tackle child obesity February 24, 2019 Sadiq Khan's advertising ban on junk food across London's transport networks has come into force today, as part of the mayor's bid to tackle child obesity in the capital. Junk food advertising will be banned on the London Underground and at bus stops across London following a public consultation in May which received 1,500 responses, with 82 [...]
Sadiq Khan to warn that leaving the single market will damage London ‘for decades to come’ February 13, 2019 London mayor Sadiq Khan will today warn that leaving the single market will damage London and the UK “for decades to come” as the exit date for leaving the bloc draws ever closer. Khan, a staunch Remainer, will say that leaving the single market and customs union would lead to a “lost decade” in which 87,000 [...]
Sadiq Khan announces shakeup of severance pay for departing TfL staff February 12, 2019 Sadiq Khan has announced a shakeup of Transport for London (TfL) pay agreements after £51m was paid out to departing staff last year. City Hall has said it will reduce notice periods, in which those made redundant can claim pay, from 12 months to six months for future managing directors and from six months to three [...]
Government housing targets under fire from UK watchdog February 8, 2019 The government’s method used to assess the number of homes needed to fix Britain’s housing crisis is "flawed", according to the UK's public spending watchdog. In a damning new report published today, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said that the government’s planning system “is underperforming and cannot demonstrate that it is meeting housing demand [...]
Westminster council victorious as court rejects TfL appeal over blocked CS11 cycle superhighway February 7, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) will not be able to build its proposed CS11 cycle superhighway at Swiss Cottage after it lost an appeal against a decision by Westminster council to block its construction last year. The Court of Appeal yesterday upheld an earlier ruling that TfL could not proceed with the CS11 without considering traffic and [...]
Sadiq Khan ‘falling short’ on housing after new home registrations fall by 10 per cent February 7, 2019 London mayor Sadiq Khan has been accused of "falling short" on housing targets after it emerged that new home registrations in London dropped 10 per cent last year to just over 16,000. There were 16,069 new home registrations in 2018, down from 17,932 the year before, according to the National House Building Council (NHBC), a [...]
An end to gridlock? How artificial intelligence could help get London moving again February 4, 2019 London is a truly remarkable city – an economic powerhouse and a cultural destination without equal. It’s a magnet to millions, and rightly so. But it’s a terrible irony that this fast-moving, fast-living, fast-earning metropolis is stuck in traffic so much of the time. We simply cannot move. According to traffic data company INRIX, London [...]