Mayor’s environmental credentials questioned

17 June 2009

A London Assembly (LA) budget report has found that mayor Boris Johnson’s environment objectives remain ‘unclear’, despite a significant increase in spending.

The LA budget and performance committee report on the environment spend for 2009/10 found that overall spending had increased by £64M compared with last year.

John Biggs, chair of the committee, said: ‘Although the mayor has increased overall environment spend by £64M, his focus is not on programmes which actually combat climate change. For this, the increase in budget is less than £1M.’

Biggs accused the mayor of showing a ‘lack of leadership and confused priorities’. He told Surveyor: ‘There have been too many trophy schemes and, after a year of treading water, we need to see the beef. Johnson needs to set out a clear vision of what he wants to do, and then he must crack the whip and ensure it is done.’

The report said the majority of the environment budget would be spent on other programmes of which the environmental outcomes are ‘not clear’. It revealed £52M would go towards start-up costs for the new cycle hire scheme, and that for many programmes, the environmental outcomes were still being worked out.

It added that staff reductions within the department could affect its ability to provide central leadership and ensure programmes were ‘integrated, well managed and running at full capacity’.

Meanwhile, LA environment committee chair, Murad Qureshi, has expressed his ‘shock’ at the huge cost of the mayor’s ‘latest environmental failure’.

Qureshi accused Johnson of ‘outsourcing for outsourcing’s sake’ after paying private consultants £85,000 to write a report on the potential of the capital’s low carbon economy.

A spokesperson for the mayor said: ‘The mayor is adamant that, rather than act as window-dressing, his environment policies will deliver value for money and genuine carbon savings, with maximum benefit to Londoners.’

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