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key issues 158: 26 November 2008
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Email: info@londoncouncils.gov.uk
Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement
The 2009/10 provisional Local Government Finance Settlement will be announced at 12.40pm today in the House of Commons. London Councils has warned that London’s local authorities face a real term cut in funding.
Read more details on the CLG website
Read London Councils' press release
Read London Councils’ briefing (available shortly after the announcement)
Contact: Nicola Morton, head of local government finance (technical)
Homes for London
In the week following the publication of the Mayor of London’s draft housing strategy, London Councils is calling on the government to provide £350 million to back plans to safeguard the capital’s housing market and provide thousands of homes for rent to Londoners. Having identified developments in several boroughs that have stalled in the current economic climate, London Councils is proposing that a new agency, Homes for London, be set up to buy market housing and let it to residents at intermediate or market rents.
Read more about London Councils’ proposals
Read the Mayor’s draft London Housing Strategy
Read London Councils’ response to the strategy
Contact: Nigel Minto, head of sustainable communities
Ban the Bag
London Councils yesterday withdrew the London Shopping Bag Bill from Parliament. The decision to withdraw the Bill was taken following the government’s pledge to impose a minimum charge on shopping bags should retailers fail to significantly reduce the number of bags they give out.
Read London Councils press release
Read more about London Councils’ Ban the Bag campaign
Contact: Oliver Hatch, public affairs manager
Children and young people in care
The first London Pledge for children and young people in care was launched by Minister for London Tony McNulty MP yesterday. The London Pledge aims to ensure that children and young people in care across London have equal access to key services and support wherever they live, go to school, train or work.
Read more about the London Pledge
Read London Councils' press release
Contact: Helen Johnston, head of children’s services
Time for action
The Mayor of London has set out his proposals to improve youth opportunities and prevent violence. The Mayor's report, Time for Action, is out for consultation and the deadline for responses is 16 December 2008.
Read or download Time for Action
Short-term migration
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has announced plans to publish local area estimates of short-term migration in summer 2009. London Councils has asked to be included in the working advisory group, which will be set up by ONS to provide feedback on the estimates once they are developed.
Read London Councils’ press release
Contact: Abid Rafiq, local government finance manager (technical)
TfL funding
Boroughs will receive around £168 million from Transport for London (TfL) to fund work to improve the capital’s roads and footways in the next financial year, the Mayor of London announced last week. London Councils welcomed the funding, which is £7 million more than the current year, but warned that there was a danger the extra cash could be swallowed up in red tape unless hurdles to working with TfL were quickly removed.
Read London Councils’ press release
Planning review published
The final report of the review carried out by Joanna Killian and David Pretty on ways to developing a faster and more responsive planning system was published on Monday. The report contains 17 recommendations, one of which seeks to improve the engagement of elected members. In 2008, London Councils, in partnership with Government Office for London and London First, produced a good practice guide for Connecting Councillors with Strategic Planning Applications, designed to help boroughs increase the role of councillors prior to formal decision making.
Read more about the Killian Pretty review
Read or download Connecting Councillors with Strategic Planning Applications
Contact: Marisa Burnal, policy and project manager (infrastructure)
Planning awards shortlist
London boroughs feature strongly among the shortlisted entries for the London Planning Awards 2008. The awards, which are now in their sixth year, are jointly run by the Mayor of London, London First, Royal Town Planning Institute and London Councils. The awards are open to local authorities, consultants, community groups, developers, public agencies, partnerships and other teams. A record number of entrants was submitted for this year’s awards.
Read more about the London Planning awards and shortlisted entries
Contact: Ruth Bradshaw, head of infrastructure policy
Standards Board sanctions
The range of sanctions available to the Standards Board for England is to be extended to include measures currently only available to councils’ standards committees; including the power to censure a member, require them to apologise, attend training, or enter a process of conciliation. New regulations were laid before the House of Commons by Minister for Local Government John Healey last week and will come into effect from 12 December.
Contact: Oliver Hatch, public affairs manager
All cisterns go
Step-by-step guidance on how local authorities can mirror the success of Richmond upon Thames’ community toilet scheme and Westminster’s ‘Satlav’ text messaging service has been published by Communities and Local Government (CLG). The CLG guidance follows its strategic overview: Improving Public Access to Better Quality Toilets, published earlier this year.
Read Improving Public Access to Better Quality Toilets – A strategic guide
Read Improving Public Access to Toilets: Guidance on Community Toilet Schemes and Satlav
