Saturday 13 August marks 100 days of Sadiq Khan’s Mayoralty. In the run up to May’s election we supported a number of organisations engaging in a variety of activities to influence the debate. These activities encompassed a range of issues, from air quality to child poverty.
As we approach 100 days since London’s new Mayor took office, we have returned to those groups to ask them what they have welcomed from Mr Khan’s first 100 days, and what his priorities should be for his next 100.
What is one thing the Mayor of London has done in his first 100 days that you have welcomed?
“The Mayor’s focus on the lack of housing affordability in London is to be welcomed, particularly the recognition that the kind of homes we build are important if we are to properly tackle the housing crisis. We were glad to see Sadiq Khan immediately seek to redefine what is meant by affordable housing, especially with the development of the London Living Rent. This is an acknowledgement that private tenants are struggling with high housing costs and that a genuinely affordable rent should be no more than a third of a person’s income.”
What is one thing he could and should aim to do in his next 100 days?
“The London Mayor needs more powers to properly tackle the cost and availability of housing. He should therefore be pushing to be granted much stronger controls on affordability and security of tenure in the private rented sector.”
What is one thing the Mayor of London has done in his first 100 days that you have welcomed?
“We’ve welcomed Mr Khan calling on employers to close the pay gap for women, publishing a full gender pay audit of City Hall and instructing other members of the Greater London Authority to do the same.”
LCPA
“We’ve welcomed the Mayor introducing the new one-hour ‘hopper-fare’, which could make a significant difference to parents from low-income families who currently rely on two buses to get to work.”
CPAG
“His continued commitment to tackle London’s housing crisis particularly in the private rented sector – he has continued to raise the issue of a Living Rent and we look forward to the more details about how this policy will work in practice.”
4 in 10
What is one thing he could and should aim to do in his next 100 days?
“The Mayor should aim to develop a comprehensive strategy for eliminating child poverty in London, working closely with ourselves.”
LCPA
“Mr Khan should take action to address the huge problems with the cost and availability of childcare in the capital.”
CPAG
“Real action in areas where London families are paying a premium for services most notably on rising childcare costs.”
4 in 10
What is one thing the Mayor of London has done in his first 100 days that you have welcomed?
“With air pollution causing over 9,000 early deaths in London each year we are delighted the Mayor is addressing air pollution so early on in his term and we support many of the measures he proposes. By focusing on road transport and in particular diesel vehicles, the Mayor is demonstrating that he understands the urgency of addressing this public health crisis.”
What is one thing he could and should aim to do in his next 100 days?
“We welcome the Mayor showing significant ambition to improve London’s air quality so early on in his term and are supportive of many of his proposals. However, he needs to go further and faster to meet his legal and moral obligations to protect the people of London from harmful air pollution. We urge him to seize this opportunity to put London on the path towards a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable future. We look forward to the next round of consultation, where we hope to see the full details of a significantly more ambitious Ultra Low Emission Zone proposal. He should extend the Zone to Greater London as many pollution hotspots are outside the North/South circular and commit to implement it in either in 2018 or the beginning of 2019.”
What is one thing the Mayor of London has done in his first 100 days that you have welcomed?
“The Mayor’s call for additional devolved powers, particularly relating to skills and employment as well as city taxation as a whole. This aligns to a number of the Commission’s recommendations.”
What is one thing he could and should aim to do in his next 100 days?
“In his next 100 days we would like to see how he plans to implement his commitment to creating a fairer economic strategy for London, one that addresses the over dominance of a low pay economy in London that traps people in in-work poverty and that will also address the escalating cost factors that create significant financial detriment for low income households in the city.”
What is one thing the Mayor of London has done in his first 100 days that you have welcomed?
“In the first 100 days of Sadiq Khan’s mayoralty we’ve been delighted by his outright support for the Living Wage campaign and the work that we do in securing decent wages for Londoners. Sadiq has been generous with his time; he’s met with us and agreed to work with us to help persuade more London landmarks to pay their staff a Living Wage.”
What is one thing he could and should aim to do in his next 100 days?
“He is committed to championing the Living Wage campaign and will be announcing the new London Living Wage rate on 31st October for Living Wage Week 2016. We are looking forward to Mr Khan supporting our work to tackle low pay by pledging to bring together major employers in the capital to ask them to increase the wages of their lowest paid and he has supported the work of the Living Wage Commission. We’re really excited about continuing to work with him during Living Wage Week 2016 and beyond.”
What is one thing the Mayor of London has done in his first 100 days that you have welcomed?
“Compass and the Good London project especially welcome the Mayor’s pledges on housing; while his shared ownership and social rent schemes are both a step in the right direction, the announcement of a living rent at 30% of the average local wage is particularly welcome. This will not solve the housing crisis, but it is a first step to ameliorating the situation for the growing number of unwaged, low waged and increasingly those earning average wages and above who are no longer able to afford to live in London. It is a bold policy.”
What is one thing he could and should aim to do in his next 100 days?
In his next 100 days Compass and the Good London project would like to see the Mayor making real progress on plans to implement these policy pledges, including:
- Define what genuinely affordable means and keep to his campaign pledge that at least 50% of new builds will be affordable.
- Put a stop to the Right-to-Buy scheme. With the growing housing shortage in London, growing homelessness, and the shortage of affordable housing the Mayor needs to take urgent action on this.
- Launch a public housing inquiry that consults members of civil society, residents, architects, local government and planning experts to find out how they want to see housing develop in London.