Keith Prince is a Havering and GLA councillor. He chairs the GLA Transport committee, holding Mayor Khan to account. He’s in a powerful and unique position but what does Havering gain?
Havering is the GLA’s Ugly Duckling. We’ve been left out of SuperLoop, didn’t get a station at Beam Park, don’t have good north-south bus routes, electronic bus signs are rarely to seen, and Gallows Corner is a national joke. Keith might be lobbying but he annoys the Mayor. This meeting could have been Keith’s showcase. It was a disaster. His speech (1:33)1 was ill-prepared, badly delivered and showed why Havering gets a raw deal from the GLA.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Virtually every councillor thinks Havering’s air is of unimprovable. Gerry O’Sullivan (1:06) blamed air pollution deaths, in part, on the 1953 Great Smog. Mandy Anderson ((1:09) quoted Boris Johnson bragging ULEZ would make London, “The greatest city on earth.” Dilip Patel (34) got technical with a critique of the Imperial College report. He made important points about tyres and brakes generating air pollution. Reg Whitney (52) said £12.50 was a permit to pollute. He said pollution could stop by 2028 if non-compliant cars were banned altogether, which is an excellent point.
Ray Best’s (1:18) family have 10 non-compliant vehicles.2 Other councillors had personal horror stories but he won. The debate featured hand-wringing about the plight of poor people. Nisiha Patel (53) said her daughter, a doctor, would suffer. Perhaps a generous gift at her next birthday will soften the ULEZ blow.
Frankie Walker (1:25) said London was unfairly treated in comparison to Manchester and Bristol. Trevor McKeevor (1:30)3 quoted a Grant Shapps letter virtually ordering the Mayor to extend ULEZ.
It turns out that pay-per-mile will probably come in after 2030 to replace the money lost from people converting to electric vehicles which don’t pay Fuel Duty.
Stephanie Nunn, Havering’s Mayor, kept the debate moving by being ‘Firm but Fair’.
Addendum: Absent councillors
Robert Benham, Joshua Chapman, Osman Dervish, Jason Frost, Jane Keane, Robbie Misir, Matt Stanton, Christine Vickery, Damian White and Chris Wilkins. 10 out of 55
Notes
1 (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Council, 30/08/2023 19:30 (havering.gov.uk) This is the wording of the single motion for debate. The debate webcast is here Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) Times indicate when a speaker began their speech. Prince = 1 hour 33 into the debate.
2 Perhaps he was inspired by the famous Four Yorkshire sketch? Four Yorkshiremen- Monty Python – YouTube
3 He also put a tetchy Chief Executive right (1:21) about councillors waiting to speak and so everyone got their turn even though the meeting was extended twice.
Politics in Havering 
For once, well done to the non-attendees. Apart from generating some soundbites for social media, did this meeting achieve anything at all?
It’s awkwardly reminiscent of councils declaring themselves nuclear free in the 1980s.
LikeLike
Thank you for your comment.
I actually disagree with you. I think that councillors should attend regardless of their opinion of the agenda. You should remember that some of the councillors will have been on holiday as this was ‘sprung’ on them and so it wasn’t a ‘choice’.
LikeLike
I keep hearing about lack of transport options going north south in the borough. This is spouted by people who’ve never been on a bus and think they’re for old and poor people. Well check out the 165, 365, 256, 252, 370 and 372 bus routes. There’s maybe more to investigate.
Rosindell is a prime proponent of the north south theory and he read it somewhere. Don’t be like him.
LikeLike
Thank you for your comment.
Beam Park is a victim of the north-south route problem. Back in the 1990s we discussed (at length) having an express service with limited stops at transport hubs, which came to nothing but with Beam Park up and running should be re-thought.
Rosindell *hunts* for problems to big up for political advantage.
LikeLike