Scrutinising the Mayor articles
Rolling out live facial recognition is hasty and totally inappropriate
Caroline Pidgeon is urging the Metropolitan Police Service to drop its controversial use of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology, until a whole range of serious concerns about its use are fully addressed.
London's healthcare staff need practical support
Caroline has written to the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience, who is co-ordinating much of City Hall's COVID-19 response, asking several key questions on the support and protections being given to our brave healthcare workers in London at this time.
Clapping each week is a nice way for us to show our gratitude, but it is a token gesture. Practical and essential steps must be taken to protect our healthcare workers and indeed all of our key workers.
Specifically, Caroline asked:
Small and medium-size businesses in London need more support
Caroline has written to the Mayor of London about his support for small and medium-sized businesses in London. SMEs in London need support as a crucial part of our economy, not just now, but also as lockdown is eased and they face the next set of challenges. They have real worries about facing a cliff-edge when the furlough scheme ends, with businesses having to close and workers losing their jobs.
Supporting domestic abuse victims during this difficult time
For many people home can be a place of danger, rather than a place of safety. At Mayor's Question Time, Caroline asked the Mayor how we can ensure support for those suffering domestic violence and abuse during this difficult time, where lots of people are having to spend more time at home.
The rising cost of Silvertown Tunnel is a further argument for its cancellation
As the Silvertown road tunnel project was revealed to have increased in cost by £200m compared to what Transport for London claimed in November, Caroline Pidgeon commented:
“Silvertown road tunnel is already turning out to be a hugely expensive construction project and I expect its financial cost will escalate even further.
Silvertown Tunnel contracts will now be made public - but the Mayor must do so before the election
Following pressure from Caroline Pidgeon in the London Assembly, the Mayor has now committed to make public the details of the contracts to build the £1bn Silvertown Tunnel.
Caroline commented:
"It is simply incredible that the £1bn project is going ahead, when we should be spending much more on cycling and pedestrian transport infrastructure.
"The Mayor needs to release the contracts for the Silvertown Tunnel, as promised, before the London elections."
Boasting about the ULEZ while building the Silvertown Tunnel is a massive contradiction
Commenting on the newly published report predicting that the Ultra Low Emission Zone will save the NHS around £5 billion over the next 30 years, Caroline Pidgeon said:
“I welcome this report, indeed its positive findings are a powerful case for the Ultra Low Emission Zone being extended even further. It is perplexing that in October 2021 it will go up to, but not actually include the South and North Circular roads.
Assembly opposes commercial flights from RAF Northolt airport
A recent poll by Regional and Business Airports Group highlighted that 68% of neighbouring residents were not aware that the RAF Northolt military airfield was reopening for commercial use.
Londoners need clarity on police station closures
We need some clarity on what is happening to many of London's police stations, which have had their front counters closed and are at risk of having their land sold off. Unfortunately this week we have heard one thing from the Mayor and another from the Met, and this clip from today's Police and Crime Committee clearly demonstrates this.
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