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London mayoral elections: Boris Johnson answers your questions

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Boris Johnson, candidate for the London mayoralty, has answered the questions submitted to him by Greenwich.co.uk readers…

What are you going to do with the fleet of the New Bus for London? Do you have plans to expand their use to the other routes?

I am proud and delighted that we have elegantly restored a hop-on hop-off platform bus, a masterpiece of 21st Century British design that is delivering British manufacturing jobs. As I pledged in 2008, I got rid of the German made bendy buses, as promised, and we are running the New Bus for London – which costs no more than a hybrid bus – on the number 38 route. This is helping us to deliver on air quality standards with fuel consumption 50 per cent lower than a conventional diesel bus. I will expand the New Bus across London with 600 new buses by the end of my second term. I will do this in a cost effective way, by replacing existing buses as they are decommissioned with the New Bus. Ken Livingstone has now said he wants to cancel this bus, putting British jobs at risk.

It has been reported recently that over 200 Metropolitan Police detectives will be investigating phone hacking next year, the equivalent of eight murder squads. Do you think this is a sensible use of police resources?

I am proud of the work of the Met in the last four years. In the teeth of a grim recession they have continued to bring crime down almost 11 per cent overall; with the Tube 20 per cent safer, the buses 30 per cent safer, robberies on buses down by almost a half; and the murder rate down by a quarter to the lowest rate since the 1960s.
It is important to put ensure the Met has the right resources to fight crime and that’s why in have invested an extra £42million in the service meaning we have been able to put 1,000 more fully warranted police officers on London’s streets at the end of this term than I inherited. I will also boost Safer Neighbourhood Teams, with an additional 2,000 police, and establish Safer Neighbourhood Boards in every borough giving local Londoners and victims a greater voice. I believe that the police should target the crimes that most concern Londoners. I will use my new powers in the Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime to ensure they are doing that as well.

Last year Green Party Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones was reported as saying that it was “ludicrous” for the Metropolitan Police to assist the parents of Madeleine McCann in the search for their daughter. Would the candidates agree with me that this was a crass and insensitive remark and that it is perfectly proper for the British Police to be involved in this case?

As Mayor I have of course followed this awful case, and feel intense sympathy for the McCann parents. The Prime Minister announced last year that the Met Police were to investigate the case, and they have my full support in doing so.

Could Boris please tell me if crime is down in London why my insurance premiums have more than doubled in 2 years? All insurance companies have told me the reason it’s more expensive is because of crime.

Comparing my term against the second term of my predecessor, total crime has been cut by 10.8 per cent. Murders have decreased by 25.9 per cent, the lowest rate since 1960s. Robberies are down by 16.3 per cent. But I recognise more needs to be done, in particular in crime ‘hotspots’ as identified by insurance companies. This is why my manifesto Fighting Crime in London sets out two approaches to lower local crime: a renewed focus on neighbourhood policing by boosting Safer Neighbourhood Teams in Greenwich, adding up to three Police Officers and three Specials to every Team; and a push on tackling on business crime by requiring an Assistant Commissioner at the Met to have this specific responsibility.

Why is my train service noticeably poorer; but fares have shot up?

Unlike my predecessor, Ken Livingstone, who made record-breaking fare increases and broken promises on fares twice during his eight years, I have undertaken a major overhaul of TfL to deliver greater efficiencies and drive out waste, delivering £4.6 billion in savings by 2015. Tube delays have been cut by 40 per cent since I was elected and stations are being transformed. The problem we have is that our current system has the creaking Victorian infrastructure. With the population set to grow by another million to 2025 and with rail ridership alone expected to rise by 30 per cent in the next 8 years, we face increasing pressures. So it is time to build on the success of Oyster, which I rolled out to suburban rail, and push for a more fully integrated underground and overground system. In the next few months I will be campaigning for train and platform lengthening on all overground services, taking our overground up to five cars, which will improve journeys from Greenwich. And I want work with the Train Operating Companies to improve suburban rail, then we will also be able to hold fares down below the levels at which they have been increasing.

Please can you put your sums for all election pledges online before election day so all residents can review them?

I have already launched five chapters of my manifesto, which detail my pledges for Londoners. They can be read online at www.backboris2012.com/manifesto. In 2008 I pledged to run the most transparent administration in Britain, publishing all expenditure over £500 and I have delivered on that pledge. I am determined to be honest and transparent with Londoners about what we can achieve, and so all my pledges are funded and feasible, not based on unfunded pledges as some of my opponents’ seem to be. In particular, we can’t afford for Ken Livingstone, who has made at least £2.7billion worth of unfunded promises while campaigning to be Mayor of London.

Why are supposedly high taxes a disincentive to employment, but high public transport costs are not?

I have stood up relentlessly for the interests of the London economy, cutting pointless red tape and crippling taxes, whether they come from Whitehall or Brussels. We need to build the platform here in London for businesses of all kind to invest in. My approach to grow Greater London’s economy is more practical – to protect existing jobs, create new ones, and boost skills and training. Here in Greenwich I have unlocked the Greenwich Peninsula scheme that was left to waste under Ken Livingstone during the boom years. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) estimates 4,000 jobs will be created from new development there, which will see 10,000 new homes, 3.5 million square feet of office space and 150 shops and restaurants created. Across the capital, I will directly create more than 200,000 jobs and on average 1,000 new apprenticeships every week over the next four years.
Jobs can be created through sound investments in public infrastructure, which will also enable us to hold fares down below the levels at which they have been increasing.

Why are you encouraging more car use, and more pollution for people in the poorer part of the borough of Greenwich, with another tunnel (Blackwall tunnel relief / Silvertown link)?

London’s transport is not just about rail, tube and buses, but about our roads too. People in Greenwich need better road networks. Less congestion also means lower pollution, improving the environment for local residents. So I will seek powers to construct a new Blackwall relief crossing, a road tunnel that will cross from Greenwich Peninsula to Silvertown, near the Royal Docks, and which will be completed within ten years. In addition, I will commit £50 million to enable immediate action to relieve the worst congestion blackspots in London, with priority being given to those roads which cause the worst delays and blight the communities who live around them.

I have introduced New Bus for London which is around 50 per cent more fuel efficient than a conventional diesel bus and I will roll out with 600 vehicles on London’s streets by the end of my term in 2016. Through my strong relations with Government, I have secured £5 million to create a Clean Air Fund for London to improve air quality in hotspots. I will also continue a 100 per cent congestion charge discount for low emission vehicles so that there is a real financial incentive for Londoners to drive the cleanest vehicles available.

Do you support extending the DLR to Eltham?

The last four years have witnessed significant improvements to the bus network, operating over 18 million more kilometres since I was elected, including the number 132 route extension from Eltham to North Greenwich. There is a case for additional public transport capacity in the area, and planning of future DLR services – including extensions – is part of a London-wide strategy to manage growth in London. I’m committed to more a fully integrated underground and overground system, and in the next few months I will be campaigning for train and platform lengthening on all overground stations, which should help Greenwich commuters.

Can you ask Boris what plans he has to make cycling in Greenwich safer? No sign of super highways or Boris Bikes here yet?

My favourite journeys are through the sun-dappled streets of London by bicycle, so I understand the desire of Greenwich residents to have improved cycling networks. I have launched the Cycle Safety Action Plan which sets out how cycling in London can be made safer. I have instructed TfL to review 500 junctions on its road network to prioritise the roads in most need of change to improve cycle safety and outline what changes are needed. Some improvements and redesign has already been undertaken.

In 2008 I promised the world’s best Cycle Hire scheme, and have delivered it. London has over 8,000 hire bikes, and 15,000 docking points. I will explore expanding the scheme further into outer London town centres, and would be delighted to bring them to Greenwich. I will also triple the number of Cycle Superhighways to twelve by the end of 2015 including Cycle Superhighway 4 which will run through Greenwich.

And finally, why do you think the people of Greenwich should support you in these elections?

I hope the people of Greenwich, like all Londoners, will see that the choice at this election is between taking London backwards with Ken Livingstone’s dangerous and unfunded pledges and wasteful schemes or taking London forward with a fully costed nine point plan to secure greater London’s future. In the last four years, I have made 15 visits to Greenwich compared to just 3 during Ken Livingstone’s second term. I am proud of the practical achievements we’ve made here in Greenwich, after listening to residents and businesses, including 1,074 more police patrols a month, cutting total crime by 17 per cent and robberies by 31 per cent since May 2008 and unlocking the stalled Greenwich Peninsula scheme that was left to waste under Ken Livingstone during the boom years. But there is more to do. In Greenwich the nine point plan means putting an extra £445 back into people’s pockets, securing a £100 million investment to create over 4,000 jobs in the Greenwich Peninsula and investing in local transport with Crossrail access at Woolwich and Abbey Wood stations. I will go further and cut my share of council tax by at least 10 per cent during the next four years through a new efficiencies programme across the GLA Group.

Information on the elections, which take place on May 3rd, can be found at London Elects.

Photo: Boris Johnson at Emirates Air Line sponsor unveiling (credit: Darryl Chamberlain)

What are your questions for Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone?

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Ken Livingstone campaigning in Woolwich
Photo by Andrew Parsons/ i-Images Photo by Greenwich.co.uk

CURRENT London mayor, Boris Johnson, and former mayor, Ken Livingstone, both want your vote in the London mayoral elections on May 3rd.

The Conservative and Labour candidates have agreed to answer questions from Greenwich.co.uk readers.

If you have a question for either candidate, please email it to news@greenwich.co.uk or post it in the comments below and a selection will be answered by the men who want London’s top job.

You can also tweet questions to @greenwichcouk or post them on our Facebook wall.

Please don’t forget to say if your question is for Boris, Ken or both.

The deadline for questions to be received by is Wednesday 4th April, 5pm.

Also, don’t miss the article that Lib Dem candidate Brian Paddick recently wrote for Greenwich.co.uk and we hope to have one soon from Green candidate, Jenny Jones.

Give me control of Greenwich’s trains, says Boris at cable car launch

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London mayor Boris Johnson has called for control of London’s overground rail routes following a power failure which saw hundreds of Greenwich line passengers stranded on a viaduct this morning.

The mayor spoke as he unveiled a £36m sponsorship deal for the cable car between the Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, which will now be officially called the Emirates Air Line.

But the launch came as Greenwich’s existing transport network was crippled by the closure of the A2 due to a dangerous building at Deptford Bridge, and the failure of the Southeastern train at Deptford.

Passengers were stuck on the train for two-and-a-half hours until it was “rolled” back to Deptford station. London-bound services were diverted via Lewisham throughout the morning.

“The failure on the overground rail is something we could well sort out if only they would give us control,” Mr Johnson told greenwich.co.uk. Transport for London has control of just one of the capital’s mainline operators, London Overground, which was launched by his predecessor Ken Livingstone in 2007.

“It’s a continual bugbear that you have passengers who feel frustrated because their journey into work isn’t comfortable from the south-east. We’re not empire-building, but we just think we could help if we’re involved in those franchises.

“Cable theft is a big problem now and we think that the systems being put in place to protect passengers against disruption are inadequate.

“Frankly, as mayor, I get people asking me about this and I think I need a bit more jurisdiction.”

The £36m, ten-year deal, will see the cable car stations named Emirates Greenwich Peninsula and Emirates Royal Docks, with the 34 gondolas painted in the airline’s red livery. Inside, the seats feature a bus-style moquette.

The service – which will have a capacity of 2,500 people in each direction each hour – will appear on the Tube map, but fares and operating times are still not confirmed. It is due to open next summer, although TfL is not guaranteeing it will be ready for the Olympics.

But the sponsorship cash falls well short of the £59m total budget of a scheme the mayor originally hoped would be entirely funded by private finance. TfL is applying to the European Regional Development Fund for an £8m grant which would “more or less wipe out the construction costs”, Mr Johnson said.

As for the remaining funds, the mayor said most of it was set aside for contingencies that hopefully would not be needed.

“Even in the worst case scenario, there will be a revenue stream from the cable car in terms of fare revenue for TfL which would help to defray that cost very substantially.

“Secondly, there will be further commercial opportunities associated with the base stations, which we will use – retail and so on – and whatever’s left over will represent sensational value for a significant new piece of transport infrastructure.”

The mayor added: “Emirates are one of the most successful airlines in the world – ask yourself why they put £36m into this. I think we’ve got a good deal and they’ve got a good deal. £36m is a good sum to give London a cable car that it needs.”

TfL’s managing director of underground and rail services, Mike Brown, said: “I was on site yesterday and work is well under way – the contractors are doing a great job from what I can see so far. Our plan is to get it up and running next summer, but it was never designed as being critical for the Olympics. But obviously we want to get it in service as soon as we can.

“This is an area of London that’s developing all the time, there are events at ExCeL and at the O2 arena – not just at weekends and in the evenings, but increasingly throughout the day – so we’re very positive about the revenue stream we’ll generate from this.”

Asked if the cable car car was the best priority for Greenwich’s transport problems, Mr Brown said: “TfL is investing a huge amount of money in the delivery of Crossrail, which of course will carry huge volumes of people, many more than the cable car was designed for.

“I think this is a useful addition. It does give us some very useful, specific capacity for the route from Greenwich Peninsula to the Royal Docks, and I think that’s going to be a fantastic addition to TfL’s overall infrastructure.

“But in no way does it distract our energies and efforts from our upgrades to the Tube and investments in the Overground, DLR and trams, as well delivering Crossrail.”

Mr Brown added that the Thames Path by the O2 would reopen “as soon as possible”, when the main piling work by the cable car’s south tower was complete.

The towers are currently being prepared for installation, while over the next few weeks work will start on the stations.

Emirates Airline president Tim Clark said: “As one of the world’s most innovative airlines, this link with this new form or air travel in London is a perfect fit for us. The Emirates Air Line will take off as an iconic landmark for London.”

But at City Hall, Liberal Democrat assembly member Mike Tuffrey was less impressed.

“Transport for London admit that this sponsorship deal only meets 80% of the construction cost.  This leaves many millions of pounds worth of funding to be found from TfL’s budget,” he said.

“At a time when fares are set to rise by well over the rate of inflation people will be asking why the Mayor has failed to live up to what he had promised and ensured the cable car was entirely self financing.”

Computer generated simulation of the Thames Cable Car

Mayor of London visits new Ravensbourne College

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Boris Johnson

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, visited the new Ravensbourne College next to the O2 this morning.

The Mayor met with students, staff and business leaders from the creative industries and was given a tour of the college’s state of the art facilities.

In his short speech to invited guests, Boris praised the “amazing” college, describing it a “beautiful, beautiful building.” He credited Michael Heseltine for “initiating the transformation… of this patch of ground in North Greenwich”.

Boris also commented on the new cable car proposal which would connect the O2 with the Royal Docks, saying it would be “named after Vince Cable” and would allow him to “reflect on the importance of the banks” from high above the Thames.

Leader of Greenwich Council, Councillor Chris Roberts, paid “huge tribute” to Robin Baker for his leadership during the college’s move to Greenwich Peninsula and praised the “completely new and revolutionary ways of learning and teaching” on offer at the college.

Ravensbourne director, Robin Baker OBE, pointed out that this was not an opening but one of a series of events to celebrate with stakeholders, to which the Mayor replied that he was happy to declare “the college even more open than it was a few moments ago.”

Listen to the speech by Robin Baker OBE, director of Ravensbourne College
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Listen to the speech by Mayor of London, Boris Johnson
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Listen to the speech by leader of Greenwich Council, Chris Roberts
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Chris Roberts and Boris Johnson

Darryl from 853 was also there and has his own write up.

“It would be a mistake for Ken Livingstone to stand again” – Nick Raynsford interview pt3

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In part three of our interview with local MP, Nick Raynsford, he gives his thoughts on a variety of issues…

ON PLANS FOR AN EAST THAMES CROSSING

“I have absolutely no doubt that the Thames Gateway Bridge was necessary and will be built in due course and the mayor in the meantime is using this review as a fig leaf to cover his embarrassment. The reason he rejected the bridge was not a proper appraisal of Transport needs. It was because Ian Clement who was then his Deputy Mayor, now disgraced, was the leader of Bexley Council which politically was totally opposed to the TGB. It was a purely political decision. Boris knows that and he is trying to find a way out from an embarrassing position.

“The idea that you will somehow solve this problem by having some kind of additional ferry where the Bridge was supposed to be is for the birds.”

ON THE SILVERTOWN LINK AND TOLLING BLACKWALL

“In the long term there probably is a need for the Silvertown Link as well but I think the overwhelming priority is to get the Thames Gateway Bridge in first. Actually if you have TGB you would almost certainly have to toll Blackwall as well because you would have the risk of people not using the TGB even though it may be the logical one to use because of the toll.”

ON AIRPORT EXPANSION

“City Airport at the moment is meeting a need but it is a difficult one which has been highlighted by the introduction of these transatlantic flights. They are much, much noisier and you are in a very, very densely populated area and people living there are nervous about further expansion. It’s a small niche airport providing a need for people particularly in Canary Wharf and the City who want to get quick access to an airport and travel faster than they can via Heathrow, but it is not he right location for a major airport certainly not flying transatlantic flights.”

Greeenwich.co.uk: Did you oppose the recent expansion of the airport?

“I didn’t oppose it because at the moment I think that City Airport should continue to expand but if you had an estuary airport, which I back, then clearly that would replace City and the business demand for it at Canary Wharf would gravitate very, very easily to the Estuary Airport.”

Greenwich.co.uk: Doesn’t the same arguments you have made for not expanding Heathrow, also apply to City Airport?

“You’re talking about completely different things. You’re not talking about a major international hub airport. You’re talking about a relatively small niche operation, which closes for half the weekend. No flights at all Saturday to Sunday lunch time because that’s the conditions in which it operates. So it is a small operation which while the planes are small, doesn’t create a great deal of conflict. I get more complaints from
constituents about flights into Heathrow than I do about City Airport.”

ON THE NEXT MAYORAL ELECTIONS AND KEN LIVINGSTONE

“I’ve said no more than that I think it would be a mistake for Ken Livingstone to stand again. I think in many ways he was a very good mayor. He made mistakes but he also did some very brave things which got the mayoralty off onto basically a very sound footing. So I pay a lot of tribute to Ken but I don’t think that he would be the right candidate next time. I think that the Labour party should be looking for a new younger candidate who would be able to take London through really towards well into the second quarter of the century.”

ON BORIS JOHNSON

“I think he has been successful with communicating with the public who like his cheerful slightly eccentric style, but I think he’s made some serious mistakes on policy of which the TGB is an example. He’s clearly made a hash of the tall buildings policy, where he initially said that there won’t going to be any and has stood on his head on that, and he’s also I’m afraid made some very poor choices in terms of people to serve him and that surprises me because his criticisms of Ken for employing Lee Jasper were in my view well justified and you would have thought he would have been rather more careful about who he appointed and how they operated in his office. So it’s a mixed picture.”

Missed the previous parts of this interview?

PART 2: Nick Raynsford on the “bogus claims” of Olympic protestors and the “cult of personality” at Greenwich Time.

PART 1: The Greenwich Market Hotel “will be built” says Nick Raynsford

Interview with Len Duvall, GLA Member for Greenwich & Lewisham

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Len Duvall
Len Duvall OBE – Greater London Assembly Member for Greenwich and Woolwich, and former head of Greenwich Council.

“Greenwich town centre isn’t my manor,” says Len Duvall, the borough’s man on the London Assembly. “I’m a Woolwich boy.”
 
We’re sitting in City Hall, and talking about the town downriver where he lives. The son of two generations of artillery gunners, Duvall was born and raised near the Arsenal and grew up as industry in the area drifted away.
 
“It’s a place I know well,” he tells me. “I used to hop along the embankment there and play in what was one of the biggest adventure playgrounds going, the ex-Arsenal site.”
 
Eventually Len’s playground made way for the concrete high rises of modern Thamesmead. Designed for the car, no railways were ever built into its plans and many of the town’s roads did not even have pavements beside them. So while older, more connected parts of the city were able to survive the loss of heavy industry, this new train-free part of town was isolated and vulnerable from the start.
 
“Of course there is a problem with isolation there.” Duvall admits “But it has always taken more to create a job in the South East generally than anywhere else in London and the reason for that is transport. South East London has always been the Cinderella of transport and that’s why we’ve had to fight for what we’ve got.”
 
While it’s true to say that the town centre and the Peninsula have benefited from the links brought by the DLR and the Jubilee Line, other parts of the borough have arguably been left behind.
 
“Look, I live in Woolwich and I don’t want it to be the poorer cousin of the rest of the borough” he insists “but getting what we have got hasn’t been a given. We’ve had to fight for every bit of it and I’ve still got the scars from that.”
 
For Duvall those fights have led to the recent opening of the new DLR station at Woolwich and to the promise of Crossrail to come. But while these developments will undoubtedly boost some parts of the borough, other parts will not necessarily get their share of the growth,
 
“Of course it was inevitable that the development at the Dome and the Peninsula would draw resources into it,” he says.
 
“But if you want any kind of extra infrastructure you have to advocate for it, and I don’t think Boris quite gets that.”

“I think that what Boris did in cancelling the Thames Gateway Bridge was criminal” 

He’s talking now about the Thames Gateway Bridge. The crossing, which would have linked Thamesmead to North London, was supported by four of the five borough councils directly affected. However, with the planning inspector, green campaigners and Bexley council all opposed to it, Boris decided to pull out. The decision has left Duvall and Greenwich Council angry:
 
“I think that what Boris did in cancelling the Thames Gateway Bridge was criminal”  he says.
 
“There was a lot of support for the bridge, but there were two or three roads in Bexley which were opposed to it. Boris could have dealt with those issues but he didn’t face up to it. And you know one of the defining things about being a leader is being able to say no to your mates and so far Boris just hasn’t been able to do that. ”
 
Yet Len is otherwise warm in his praise for the Mayor. He says that unlike some he “never believed the stuff about him being a racist toff” and tells me how impressed he has been with his work rate.
 
“He’s definitely hard working,” he says. “I’m not sure he started out like that and I think that was one of the criticisms against him, that he was ‘lazy Boris’ but he’s certainly putting the hours in now.”
 
Despite this praise, his relationship with Boris has not been an easy one. Appointed by Ken Livingstone to chair the Police Authority,  Len’s position was handed over to Boris Johnson last year. Following his now famous intervention in the Damian Green case, Boris and Len very publicly came to blows. The result of these exchanges, was an official complaint made by Duvall to the Standards committee.
 
This complaint, which has caused Len to come under criticism himself, is still under investigation.  But despite this ongoing controversy, he insists that they remain on good terms.
 
“The thing about Boris, is that he always wants to be liked” he says laughing.
 
“He wants to know that we can still talk to each other. You’d think that he would be more worried about this investigation, but he’s worrying that we can still get on.”
 
For now though, Duvall’s main task is in representing his constituency. And in the run-up to the Olympics, what happens in the borough is increasingly coming into the public eye. I ask him whether he thinks people are right to be worried about the Olympics.
 
“Of course there are legitimate issues about having the Olympics at Greenwich Park and I think the Council need to work harder at addressing those.”

“Greenwich Park isn’t just for Greenwich residents”

“But I think some of those have to be challenged. And the issue is that Greenwich Park isn’t just for Greenwich residents. It’s a London-wide park, it’s a Royal Park, and it’s an international park.”
 
I ask him what he thinks about the press coverage that the issue has received so far.
 
“I think we have to be careful about having an Andrew Gilligan knee-jerk reaction to it” he says, referring to articles in the Evening Standard and elsewhere. “Because if you look at where it happened in Hong Kong, there was disruption but now the site is back in action.”
 
“And look, I don’t live in Greenwich, but I use the park a lot and the last thing that I want to do is to wreck it. Politicians don’t get up wanting to make things worse for people.”
 
As I gather my things together, I turn and take a look at the pictures on his office walls. Among the campaign posters for the Labour party and the Anti Nazi League is a framed picture of Greenwich and the Thames Waterfront.
 
For those of us living in the borough, this is just the everyday view of our ‘manor’, but for the rest of the world it will become one of the major views of the UK.
 
Quite what having it as a backdrop will mean for the flower beds of Greenwich Park remains to be seen.  But beyond their margins lies a wider borough far more in need of Duvall’s attention and care.