PM: ‘TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE LONDON GREAT FOR 2012’
The Prime Minister today set out the action the Government is taking to ensure London builds on its success and rises to the challenge of becoming an exemplary world city which Londoners can be proud of in time for the Olympics in 2012.
The report, Building on Success: London’s Challenge for 2012, shows that London has made great strides since 1997 with high and stable economic growth, transformed public services, more jobs, stronger public leadership, better transport, and safer streets. But it also shows that the city now faces new challenges, including global economic change, a shortage of affordable housing for first time buyers, and pockets of deprivation amid the prosperity.
The report outlines a comprehensive package of measures which the Government will take to support the city as it tackles these challenges. These include:
- two new partnerships in East and West London aimed at tackling worklessness, bringing together all relevant local partners to get more Londoners into jobs, and in the case of the East London pathfinder, to ensure local people benefit from the employment opportunities which the Olympics will bring;
- a new £35m skills package from the Learning and Skills Council in London to get more Londoners into work and to ensure they equipped with the high level skills London’s employers increasingly want;
- action to address the shortage of affordable housing, working with the Mayor and boroughs to increase supply, create more mixed communities, and offer pan-London choice for social tenants;
- extending the successful London Challenge for schools to London’s primary schools, plus at least 60 new Academies open or in development by 2010, and at least 15 new sixth forms or sixth form centres by 2008, to continue to drive up standards in London’s schools;
- more new NHS walk-in centres to ensure health services in London are better tailored towards meeting the needs of Londoners;
- a new pan-London initiative, Young London Matters, to help deliver better, more responsive services for London’s most vulnerable children;
- more measures to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in London including extending the Home Office’s Tackling Violent Crime programme and granting Transport for London the power to apply directly for anti-social behaviour orders.
- A new partnership to help London’s creative festivals better compete on a world stage.
The report also calls on London’s businesses, local government, communities and people to be inspired by the example of the Olympics and play their full part tackling the key challenges facing London.
The Prime Minister said: “The Olympics in 2012, when the eyes of the world will be on London, give us a timetable to work towards. Visitors should be shown the new infrastructure supporting economic growth. They should see the new schools and hospitals, the new housing and the regenerated derelict sites. And we should show that even in the face of global tensions, it is a fair and tolerant city, welcoming to all, tackling the deprivation and unemployment in our midst and promoting community harmony. 2012 is not simply a sporting occasion. It is a clear deadline we can set ourselves for our collected efforts to confirm London’s position as the greatest city in the world. As set out in this report, Government will play its full part.
“But there are tough challenges for London itself. So while this report makes our commitment plain, it also sets out four concrete challenges - for London’s businesses, for London’s local and city-wide government, for voluntary and community groups, and for Londoners themselves. I am convinced that the spirit which London showed last year, and which it continues to show, can be captured and harnessed to overcome all these challenges for the good of this city and all its citizens.”
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: “The preparations for the Olympic and Paralympic Games give us the chance to harness the full potential of Londoners to make this an even better place to live and work by 2012, so I welcome this report and the commitment of the Government to London. I hope all Londoners will make a personal commitment to bring the best out of our city.”
4 April 2006
Notes to editors
The Prime Minister launched the report, Building on Success: London’s Challenge for 2012, today at a reception for Londoners at City Hall. He was joined by Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London; plus a panel comprising:
- Baroness Jo Valentine, Chief Executive of London First, representing London’s business and economic life
- Michael Lynch AM, Chief Executive of the South Bank Centre, representing London’s cultural life
- Chief Superintendent Stephen Bloomfield, Metropolitan Police Service, representing London’s community safety and resilience effort;
- Moira Gibb CBE, Chief Executive of the London Borough of Camden, representing London’s local public services;
- Andrew Wolstenholme, Heathrow Terminal 5 Project Director, representing London’s new infrastructure;
- Tessa Sanderson OBE, representing London’s sporting community
The report can be viewed and downloaded from the link below.
