Policies that Mayor Johnson Has Proposed for the City of London - Essay Example

Introduction Most cities in the world are placed under the leadership of the local councils. These councils, on the other hand, are managed by a mayor. The mayor, therefore, is the overall decision maker with regards to policies that are made to govern these cities. The city of London, for instance, is currently placed under the leadership of Mayor Boris Johnson, who works under the Greater London Authority: He has been credited with steering the city to greater heights of economic development through his economic development policies. It is for such reasons that he has been re-elected for another term in the last election (Beatley, 2012). In the backdrop of this, we shall take an in-depth view of some the policies that Mayor Johnson has proposed for the City of London, in particular those that address environmental concerns. Additionally, we shall review the powers and responsibilities of the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London so that we may understand their scope in administrative matters. A thorough scrutiny of some of polices stipulated by the mayor shall also be reviewed in this essay. Powers and Responsibilities of GLA and the Mayor One of the main responsibilities of Mayor Johnson is to promote economic development and creation of wealth. Being the executive of the strategic authority of London, the mayor is mandated to ensure that there are avenues for job creation and a good atmosphere for doing business. Availability of jobs and the abundance of business opportunities open up room for economic development in the city. The mayor is also mandated to create policies and strategic plans to address transportation, development and planning, environmental issues, health, economic development, culture and housing issues. With the aid of bodies mandated to carry out specific functions, such as Transport for London, the mayor is able to implement these policies. Appointment of board members of the different functional bodies such as London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority is often done by the mayor. These bodies have specific roles that address different development issues, such as crime and transportation. In addition to this, he can appoint a chair to these boards or chair the boards himself, like he has done with the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Transport of London (Beatley, 2012). As the executive, the mayor sets out annual budgets for funding services in London. This is often done by funding bodies that provide such services. These include; Transport for London, Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), London Development Agency (LDA), London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) and the Greater London Authority. The mayor has an overall power command anything that will promote the socio-economic development and environmental improvement of the city of London. However, his powers are often restricted in the sense that he must consult with the Londoners before making any decision and also ensure that the decisions he makes will be fair and promote equality among all stakeholders of the city. The greater London Authority, on the other hand, has the responsibility to provide transportation, foster strategic planning and development, fire and rescue and finally policing. It manages to achieve these responsibilities through its umbrella bodies that work under the guidance of the city’s mayor. These bodies include; the Mayor’s office for Policing and Crime, Transport for London and London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. Its other role is that they support the London Assembly in scrutinizing the duties and responsibilities of the mayor since they represent the public majority. Analysis of the Environmental Policies Mayor Johnson’s vision of London is to make it a recognized front runner in improving the environment locally and globally. This he aims to achieve through policies and programs he has initiated with regards to the environment. These policies include; Making London city greener; Recognized as the one of the greenest cities in the world, mayor Johnson intends to make London much more greener so as to make the city habitable. This he hopes to achieve through the implementation of ‘London Great Outdoor’ program he initiated in the year 2009. This program aims to transform the public utilities in the city into cherished and most relaxing places within the city. Since its initiation, the program has been a success with significant transformation often seen in the city’s public utilities. Broader footpaths and elimination of street furniture along Orpington town Centre are some of the changes made to London a greener city. Reduction of littering and other environment related crimes is another environmental policy initiated by Mayor Johnson. Through enforcing and educating, the Mayor aims to achieve a reduction of environment related crimes and littering. Those found committing environmental crimes should not be allowed to walk away scot free, according to the Mayor, but should be punished in line with the level of environmental crime committed. Behavior change can be achieved through educating the people of London so that they may be environmental conscience. He also intends to work closely with the boroughs since it is also their responsibility to take of the environment. Improving the air quality in the city of London, The mayor aims to achieve this, by focusing his attention on specific sectors of the economy, such as the transport sector. The overall objective in these sectors is to reduce emissions through enforcing various legislation regulating emissions. This may include educating the public on ways to reduce emissions, ensuring good practices in construction sites, ensuring that Euro emission standards are often met, among other initiatives. Addressing climate change concerns, In view of the recent threats to the climatic changes taking place globally, the mayor of London intends to address this by tackling the challenges associated with climate change. According to Beatley (2012) these challanges are; reducing carbon emissions and adapting to the changes associated with climate change. His vision is for London to be a low carbon emitting economy in the world by ensuring efficiency through conservation of energy and minimizing waste. Taking care of London’s water reserves, the mayor aims to achieve proper management of water supply and its distribution by working together with water companies and other stakeholders. His vision is that water should be made available to users in the city, and that no one wastes it but uses it responsibly and puts it in good use as much as possible. It is for this reason that the GLA instituted an Independent Sustainability Appraisal for the London Water Strategy. Managing waste products; Waste can be managed in a number of ways which may include; recycling, reusing waste, reducing waste and transforming waste into useful products. It saves money to reduce waste through minimizing the use of packages for wrapping items. Environmental impacts have often been minimized through recycling products, and costs have been saved at the same time. Transforming waste into useful products not only generates income, but also helps reduce environmental degradation. Reusing waste reduces impacts on the environment as well as saves costs of materials. Through the municipal and business waste management strategies, the mayor is has been able to enforce such practices. Analysis of gap between development and implementation of policy The mayor of London has made several policies that are aimed at environmental concerns most of which is discussed above. Some of these policies have been actualized and their success has been termed as immeasurable. Take the ‘London Great Outdoor’ project for instance, which has recorded enormous success after its initiation in 2009. It has been revealed that the implementation process played a crucial role in ensuring the success of the project. By taking a direct approach in implementing the project, substantial ground is made in fulfilling such policies. It is, therefore, necessary for policy development and implementation to go hand in hand with one another. The ‘London Great Outdoor’ project was a significant development in itself. Its successful implementation made it even better. Policy developers should place considerable effort in implementing polices they develop. It has also been observed that strategic initiatives yield more fruits than initiating behavioral change among the general population. It is agreeable to say that people are reluctant to change and thus it will take a long period of time, to initiate change in individuals. Strategic initiatives, on the other hand, bring about change as stipulated in the development policy within a remarkably short period of time (Beatley, 2012). In view of this, the Mayor, together with the Great London Authority, should focus on strategic initiatives to bring changes as stipulated in the policies. The green movement in London can be associated with such strategic initiatives. It is also notable for the Great London Authority together with Mayor to consult widely with all stakeholders during policy development and implementation stages. Most projects tend to fail due to lack of stakeholder involvement, which results to rejection of such policies. Policies are made to benefit the stakeholders, and as such they affect them directly. Poor consultation or stakeholder involvement will result to poor implementation and in the worst case scenario, result to more problems that it had resolved to solve. Opinions of GSoM in implementation of Environmental policies in London Environmental policies have been of paramount interest to the students of Graduate School of Management. It is for such reasons that the school has been chosen as the best ‘Green business’ school in the region. We shall, therefore, take a brief look at the survey opinions gathered from students with regards to environmental policies. Of paramount importance, we shall delve into the policy on reduction of carbon emissions. The students believe that the mayor, in partnership with the Great London Authority, have made considerable steps in reducing carbon emission in the city. Among their favorite implementations are the introductions ‘Boris bikes’. Named after the London mayor, Boris Johnson, this cycling project was part of the mayor’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions produced by vehicles. By providing safe cycling paths and introducing affordable rental bicycles, the mayor intended to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, thereby reducing the carbon emissions on the environment. Cycling is also immensely popular with students, and this explains why it was a welcomed move by the students. Introduction of hybrid buses and electric cars was also a welcomed move by the students. Under the Air Quality Strategy, the Mayor sought to address environmental concerns on carbon emission by replacing London bus fleets to hybrid. Hybrid vehicles use clean energy from organic products, which release minimum carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Electric cars, on the other hand, do not use fuel to power the vehicle. Instead, they are powered by electricity which is stored in rechargeable batteries within the hood of the car. Once depleted, they can easily be recharged at any power source in the vicinity. This new technology has impressed many, and it is for such reasons they have increasingly become popular in the city of London. By introducing regular events to encourage people to walk to their various destinations, the mayor has managed to control carbon emissions in the atmosphere and also win the hearts of many in this endeavor. It is common nowadays to see people walking or cycling to work. This program has been embraced by many not only for its environmental benefits, but also for its health improvement benefits. Due to public awareness and campaigns, the people of London have been informed of health and environmental benefits of walking, and thus many have resorted to this practice. Another welcome move by the mayor’s office by the students is the scaling up of London homes and buildings to be energy sufficient and reduce on emissions. This has resulted to the designing of aesthetically pleasing architectural housing designs that have become a common sight in the city of London. Old buildings have been rehabilitated to reduce emissions as well as conserve energy through the use of modern technology such as solar powered roofing. However, according to the students, more need to be done to implement the Euro III and IV standards for emission of toxic gases into the atmosphere. Many industries and vehicles have not yet complied with this standard, and this slows down the progress on providing a clean environment. The implementation of this standard is noteworthy because these industries and vehicles are the greatest polluters of the environment in terms of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. If more effort is placed to curb this menace in these industries, then considerable gain will be made in reducing the overall carbon emission in the atmosphere. Conclusion Environmental concerns have been the main challenge in developing countries. With the increasing rates of climatic changes due to global warming, many cities in the world are placing considerable effort to curb this menace. The city of London, therefore, put in place tremendous effort to address environmental concerns through policy formulation and environmental awareness practices. Though such steps are commendable, it is still not enough to deal with the ever rising challenges of the environment (Beatley, 2012). Many of these policies have not been fully implemented and as such, have slowed down the progress that should have been made on addressing environmental concerns. This means that there are gaps in implementation which need to be filled so that considerable gains can be made in addressing environmental problems. The administration in charge, Greater London Authority together with the mayor of London should, therefore, place more emphasis on implementation rather than formulating new policies that will end up being unfulfilled. s Bibliography BEATLEY, T. (2012). Green cities of Europe global lessons on green urbanism. Washington, DC, Island Press. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=452761 Read More