“Ken Livingstone’s call to split London into five super-boroughs must rank alongside Margaret Thatcher’s decision to abolish the GLC for its sheer arrogance and wrongheadedness,” commented Darren.
Under Mayor Livingstone’s hare-brained plans there would just be five local authorities in London – North-West London, North Central London, North East London, South-West London and South East London. Each authority would have a population of more than a million.
Darren continued, ““Livingstone has fallen into the trap of assuming that bigger means more efficient but his merger plans would make local councils even more remote and out of touch with local people. The current borough boundaries were drawn up in the 1960s and do need to be looked at again. However, Greens would like to see smaller London boroughs that provided a real voice for London’s historic local communities. The Green vision for London is not just one sprawling metropolis but a network of urban villages, each with its own thriving local community, strong local economy and quality local services.”
The London Assembly is planning to set up a scrutiny committee on the future of local government in London. The planned investigation will look into the structure and size of local authorities in London as well as looking at possible changes to the electoral system. The planned scrutiny has been welcomed by the Green Party Group in the London Assembly.
Greens want the planned scrutiny to investigate:
· the creation of urban parish or community councils (London is the only part of the UK which is legally prevented from having these)
· breaking up the boroughs to create separate smaller units
· proportional representation for local government
ENDS