By Daniel Hunter
A cut in the council tax precept and more police officers on the streets are the key elements of the Mayor of London Boris Johnson's fourth budget, which has been approved unamended today (Thursday) by the London Assembly.
Underlining the sensible savings he has achieved over the last three years, the Mayor is in a position to not only freeze his portion of the council tax but to offer a modest cut in the precept of one per cent.
Under the eight years of the previous administration, the GLA precept rose by 152 per cent, which is equivalent to the impact of a cumulative increase of £963.58.
The budget will allow for significant investments to help regenerate London and will also protect the capital’s police numbers. The Mayor has secured an extra £90m from government to ensure that police on London streets can remain high for the foreseeable future. At the end of this Mayoral term there will be around 1,000 more police officers than at the beginning.
The budget will ensure that Crossrail and the Tube upgrades will be delivered and fares will be held down as much as is possible, whilst maintaining neo-Victorian levels of investment in transport infrastructure- helping the city to emerge from the current economic difficulties more competitive than ever.
"Delivering value for money for Londoners, whilst also protecting frontline services such as policing and transport infrastructure has been possible thanks to the sensible and careful savings we have made over the past four years," the Mayor Boris Johnson said.
"One of my key priorities is to make London safer, and this budget continues to protect police numbers. At the end of this Mayoral term there will be nearly 1,000 more officers than at the beginning of the term."
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