Publication from Caroline Russell: Mayor's budget should reinstate funding for walking and cycling

An amendment to the Mayor’s final budget with five parts. I am very pleased that the Mayor has taken up proposals for a multi-year fund for services for young people in his final budget.

Each part of the amendment seeks to put power back in the hands of the communities in London most in need of help, and tackle the inequality that blights London. Each change would create or increase budgets to support Londoners working together to make things better, whether that’s tackling the housing crisis, improving local streets and shopping areas, reducing fuel poverty and backing community energy, building healthy streets, or helping small businesses hit by emergencies.

The proposals will:

• Support residents with expert help to devise their own plans for their areas and estates through a new £150,000 fund.
• Extend and improve the Mayor’s crowdfunding programme with a £2 million budget, changing the terms to support more deprived communities and those who find it difficult to raise money from their own residents to match the Mayor’s contributions.
• Make London’s energy company fully licensed, funding the £3 million set up costs and £10 million working capital for a fully-licensed energy company from the Mayor’s capital programme reserve.
• Reverse the Mayor’s 2018/19 cuts to local healthy streets budgets using £13.4 million of funding from the Mayor’s business rates reserve.
• Support London’s small businesses to recover from shocks by increasing and making permanent the Mayor’s fund to support businesses impacted by major emergencies.