THE London Assembly is now calling for greater authority after Boris Johnson’s call for more powers to be handed over from Whitehall. The Assembly wants a slice of the action if the Mayor’s role is to be kept transparent and accountable

By Mike Brooke

THE London Assembly is now calling for greater authority after Boris Johnson’s call for more powers to be handed over from Whitehall.

Assembly backbenchers support the Mayor’s call on Tuesday for more controls devolved from Whitehall which could bring health care and the River Thames under his control and a new police board for London.’

But the Assembly also wants a slice of the action if the Mayor’s role is to be kept transparent and accountable.

Its own powers must be broadened and strengthened, members agreed yesterday.

Assembly Chair Dee Doocey said: “We must ensure that if the Mayor is made more powerful, the role of the Assembly is strengthened to ensure decision-making is transparent and open to proper debate and scrutiny.”

It calls for any new or reformed strategic London-wide bodies and their budgets to be brought under the Greater London Authority and be subject to the Assembly’s increased powers to summons persons and papers.

There is “an unhelpful disparity” between bodies with local government rules of openness such as the police and fire authorities making decisions in public and those that are not, such as Transport for London and the London Development Agency, Assembly members agreed.

The powers they want brought under City Hall include those of the Port of London Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, Ambulance Service, NHS London, Royal Parks, British Waterways, Environment Agency, Pension Fund Authority, Museum of London, Arts Council and English Heritage London Advisory committee, Commission for Architecture, Homes & Communities Agency, Skills & Employment Board and Waste & Recycling Board.