The 2016-2017 budget will see the Mayor’s share of council tax fall by 6.4 per cent - a reduction of £19 to £276 for Band D taxpayers. The budget also includes plans to protect police officer numbers and key transport improvements while supporting the construction of a record number of new homes and creating thousands of new jobs.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “This budget delivers the growth and investment London needs to meet its surging population, supporting the delivery of new homes, vital transport infrastructure and protecting frontline policing. At the same time, we are relentlessly bearing down on unnecessary costs in order to once again put more money back in the pockets of Londoners by trimming council tax, leading to a ten per cent cut over my second term of office.”
The Mayor’s 2016/2017 budget covers the entire Greater London Authority Group – including Transport for London, the London Legacy Development Corporation, the Metropolitan Police service and the London Fire Brigade. It includes:
• The continued delivery of around £418m of funding that is being used to support economic regeneration in the capital.
• The protection of police officer numbers at around 32,000 including a reinvigoration of neighbourhood policing by getting 2,600 extra officers into local neighbourhoods. It also includes investment in the latest digital technologies such as body worn cameras.
• Investment in upgrading the Tube network including £250m on making more stations step free, the delivery of a northern Line extension to Nine Elms and Battersea and continued support for the delivery of Crossrail, which will increase London’s rail capacity by ten per cent.
• A £4bn investment on London’s roads. £913m is due to be spent on cycling improvements, including Cycle Superhighways, Quietways and mini-Hollands, £200m has been earmarked for bus priority schemes and 800 New Routemaster buses will be delivered by 2016.
• Continuing the increase in the supply of affordable homes and identifying better ways of doing so with a target of delivering 100,000 affordable homes over the Mayor’s eight years in office.
• Ensuring the London Fire Brigade can continue to meet their response time targets.
• A commitment to continue funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime for Survivors UK work with the victims of male rape.
• The permanent re-opening of the former Olympic Stadium in the summer of 2016 and support for the hosting of major sports events across all of the 2102 legacy venues including the, European Aquatics Championships. Plus the continued development of Olympicopolis, a world class new cultural, scientific and educational centre for London at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
• Support for the new Mayoral Development Corporation for Old Oak and Park Royal, a once in a lifetime regeneration opportunity for that part of west London which will deliver thousands of new jobs and homes.
• Continuing to ensure young Londoners have the digital skills they need to access jobs in London’s thriving technology sector through apprenticeships and courses delivered by the £5m Digital Talent Programme.
Notes to editors
• The Mayor of London’s 2016-17 Council Tax requirement is £774m – this being the total sum forecast to be collected from Londoners to fund GLA services. This will see the total GLA precept reduced from £295 to £276 a year (Band D household) for residents of the 32 boroughs – a reduction of £19 or 6.4%. The Band D precept for taxpayers within the Corporation of London area – which has its own police force – is provisionally set at £73.89.
• The Mayor’s council tax precept comprises £567m to support the Metropolitan Police service, £138m for the London Fire Brigade and £69m for other services such as transport, the Olympic precept and the GLA itself.
• The Mayor’s budget consists of allocations for - the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (Metropolitan Police), Transport for London, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (London Fire Brigade), the London Legacy Development Company (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park), the new Old Oak Common and Park Royal Development Corporation, the core Greater London Authority and the London Assembly.
• The total budget for the GLA Group for 2016-17 is £16.3 billion. This comprises a revenue budget of £11.5 billion and a draft capital spending plan of £4.8 billion.