Greens making a difference in London
The two Green Members on the London Assembly, Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson, have made a huge difference and 203,465 Londoners voted to re-elect them in May 2008. In the year since then they have had the following successes:
• They helped secure the cancellation of the traffic generating Thames Gateway Bridge proposal. After spending the best part of eight years campaigning against it they finally persuaded the new Mayor to drop it.
• Although Boris Johnson originally planned to withdraw the GLA from the international Mayor's for Peace organisation, the Greens persuaded him to reverse this decision.
• Following a successful motion by Darren Johnson AM, the Mayor agreed to commission work to examine the scope for an amnesty for irregular migrants and to lobby government in support of this.
• Following lobbying from Jenny Jones the Metropolitan Police's Human Trafficking Unit has received funding for a further year.
• Following persistent questioning from Darren Johnson and publication of an influential scrutiny report the London Development Agency abandoned plans to withdraw from work on home energy conservation and is now looking a free insulation scheme for London homes.
• The Green Group have had motions passed on climate change, fair trade, Parliament Square, an earned amnesty for migrants, human trafficking, cycle lanes, air pollution and funding for a new station at Surrey Canal Road.
Under the previous Mayor the Greens had a pivotal role in the Assembly's budget-setting, as Ken Livingstone was unable to get his budget through without Green support. They continue to vigorously defend these initiatives in the face of cuts imposed by the current Mayor, Boris Johnson. These are some of their successes from the previous term:
• Tripling to £62m the money available for improving facilities for cyclists and walkers - cycling on main roads in London has risen by 83% since 2000. This builds on London's position as the only major city in the world to have achieved a shift from private car use to public transport, walking and cycling.
• Ensuring the London Development Agency (LDA) committed to an additional £18m over the next three years to deliver new waste and recycling facilities to ensure that London deals with the bulk of its own waste and to use the waste to produce renewable energy.
• Setting up the London Living Wage Unit to tackle poverty pay.
• Starting the Green Homes Service that supports Londoners who want to make their homes greener. As well as Transport for London's (TfL) £25m climate change mitigation funding, the LDA now has a three-year £35m funding of Climate Change Action Plan projects such as the home insulation, Green homes, and the business-focussed Green 500 programmes.
• Securing the East London Green Grid, which will create the equivalent 29 Hyde Parks of new green space and protect the flood plains in east London.
• Doubling expenditure on road safety in London - our casualty rate has fallen faster than any other region in the country.
• Ensuring all new buses from 2012 onwards are to be electric/diesel hybrids, producing a third less pollution;
• Providing training programmes for green skills and a new emphasis on promoting green jobs in London.
