Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member and Member of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, described the Mayor’s consultation on Met Police Services as ‘shambolic’ after the details of important public meetings were finally published - almost eight weeks after the consultation started.
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, commenting on the joint statement on Crossrail 2 from the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling MP, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:
“We should be encouraged that the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for London are at long last even talking together about how to take Crossrail 2 forward.
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, commenting on the Mayor’s newly published Transport Strategy, said:
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, commenting on today’s announcement by the Mayor that the GLA will not be providing Mayoral guarantees for the Garden Bridge project, said:
“The Mayor has taken a year to make this decision and while he has been dithering more money has been wasted. Yet while it is regrettable that Sadiq Khan has taken so long to make a decision he has finally done the right thing following Dame Margaret Hodge's damning report.
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, commenting on Dame Margaret Hodge's highly critical report on the Garden Bridge, said:
“This is a totally damning report. It is a disgrace that key decisions on the Garden Bridge were driven by electoral cycles rather than any concern for value for money. The report also backs up the long standing finding of the London Assembly that the procurement processes were not open, fair or competitive.
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, commenting on the admission today by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, that the year 2017 to 2018 will see £38 million saved by recognising current police numbers which are about 31,200 police officers, said:
“The Mayor is repeatedly on record as saying he backs the strategic target of London having 32,000 police officers, yet in his very first budget he want to remove the very means to achieve that target.
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, writes for Liberal Democrat Voice on the announcement by the Mayor of London that water cannon purchased by Boris Johnson is now up for sale:
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, commenting on the Mayor’s plans for housing, said:
“Today’s announcement is quite frankly a damp squib compared to what Sadiq Khan promised Londoners before the election.
“The Mayor’s manifesto was quite clear that he would set an ambitious target of 50 per cent of new homes being genuinely affordable.
Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member, commenting on the report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary on child protection services in the Metropolitan Police Service, said:
“This report highlights how much child protection issues have been marginalised by the Met. The HMIC are absolutely right to highlight their serious concern that within the Met there is no single person at a senior level who is responsible and with oversight of child protection work.
Caroline Pidgeon, visited a Guide Dogs event in Parliament on 16th November to show her support for taxi and minicab drivers receiving disability equality training when getting their licence. In September, the London Assembly passed a motion supporting Guide Dogs’ call for an increase in the penalty for refusing access to an assistance dog owner.
