Key Policies for a Climate Emergency

1. Regular car-free, fly-free and work-free days to cut emissions (Direct, immediate action)
2. World fossil fuel free days (we need many trials to experience what this looks like and where we need to be better prepared)
3. Free cycles for everyone and free secure cycle parking (This must be the mainstream go-to for personal journeys under 5 miles)
4. A hierarchy of energy use for the common good. (Where cooking, heating and hot showers are higher priorities for renewables than low occupancy, inefficient  electric cars and data proliferation)
5. De-carbonise heating, hot water and cooking ASAP (Millions of green jobs urgently needed with appropriate training)
6. Free trees for every garden  (on private land in the UK as well as mass planting on public land. Trees absorb carbon and are a critical part of climate action) Every tree, copse and woodland in the UK must be listed and protected.
7. Resident allotment permits for food growing on current wasteful resident parking spaces. Councils have a Statutory Duty to provide Allotments for everyone that wants one. Perishable greens are high carbon because of the quantity that is degraded in transport. Food security is important. As is locally sourced produce needed to reduce road /air miles
8. Community composts provided close to homes. Reallocation of parking spaces to localised community composts. Reducing waste and landfill as well as transport emissions.
9. Cargo bike hire supplied to local residents and businesses.
10. A ban on advertising for planet destroying consumerables (car adverts, meat and long distance flights /holidays).
11. No to  high energy use of tech promoted for per the mile road pricing. (Telematics is a high energy user of data Not appropriate for  a low carbon, low energy future. Energy use allowances would be far more effective at reducing car use. We need to address  the cause not the symptom).
12. Ban automation in motor vehicles (Not safe or proven technology. No algorithmic transparency of accountability. It is a very high energy user (there are 100 computers on one Automated Vehicle, equivalent to boiling 3 electric kettles continuously) plus radar, sensors and cameras. Mostly designed for data harvesting and surveillance. 5G is a serious health threat
13. Carbon, energy and data allowances for everyone (Energy allowances will allow people to choose between a hot shower, downloading a Netflix boxset or using a car to drive a few miles down the road)
14. Switch investment and jobs away from the car industry and road building to pinning solar to every roof possible ASAP (The car industry is stranded assets and jobs whilst solar is an urgent imperative for a low energy low carbon future)
15. Transparent, easily accessible carbon accounting at all levels of Government and Business (With indirect carbon from energy use recorded as well as direct carbon).
16. Extend job centre plus travel discount to all public transport
17. Fully Universal Basic income (that is nothing to do with Artificial Intelligence but about reducing the working week to 3-4 days to cut energy use and for quality community and family life).
18. Education on how to use  ICT (Information and communications technology) that is not wasteful of energy. For instance don’t travel via google maps. Plan your journey ahead or use a map. Borrow CDs and DVDs from libraries rather than Netflix and streaming.
19. Producing software that is efficient means energy allowances must be applied. Current wasteful and lazy software is burning energy needlessly
20. Stopping data proliferation that is used for mass surveillance, data harvesting and selling us stuff we don’t need.
21. No forced personal data on the Electoral Register (democracy must be free of outside interference)
22. Algorithmic transparency and accountability.
23. Tax under-occupation of dwellings. We could house the entire UK population again in the current unoccupied bedrooms. Make more efficient use of current housing stock through taxation. Cutting cement and steel emissions means a radical transformation in the way we build and maintain housing
24. Treat plastic as toxic waste Stop producing the stuff. And man-made toxic plastic derivative textiles too. Acrylics nylon spandex. Fleeces are one of the worst. No more lycra cycling gear!
25. Cycle only streets and hire bikes at all train stations and bus interchanges. 
26. Licence pedicabs and apps like pedalmeapp and move to last mile delivery by cargo bike. Facilitate cargo bike plumbers, carpenters and electricians. 
27. Give every citizen the choice to live a carfree lifestyle with suitable infrastructure and financial incentives
28. Mass rewilding of roads to restore nature, biodiversity, carbon absorbing tree cover and flood mitigation.
29. EU directive draft proposal / Mini–Holland for every London Borough

• Every village, town and city in the European Union must have a walking and cycling network.
• Everyone must have the opportunity to walk and cycle safely going about their daily life.
• This must be backed up by an integrated, accessible  and joined up Public Transport Network
• Ban motor traffic from the core of every town, city and village

Please contact me on twitter @Privatecarfree

KEY POLICIES 2016-20

• Ban diesel, petrol and hybrids in London starting in the central inner city boroughs, roughly zones 1 & and then progressively encompassing the outer boroughs. Setting out a clear and focused plan to switch public transport and commercial from diesel at the earliest possible date.
•  Ban all private cars from Central London starting with non-residential and moving quickly to a full ban.
• Prioritise walking and cycling with proportionate representation on TFL board, road space allocation and budget.
•  Create a Car-free Cycling network across Greater London Meanwhile continue installing protected cycle lanes on the main arteries .
• Reclaim car parks as brownfield sites to house key workers, at reasonable rents and linked to their jobs in the vicinity.
• Rationalise commercial vehicles by capping PHVs, Taxis and Car Club hire vehicles. Encourage and incentivise cargo bike light delivery. Create transit permits per journey, based on size and environmental impact in central London for delivery, freight and contractor vehicles.
•  Plant one million trees throughout London Trees absorb pollution, rainfall (to reduce flooding) increase mental well being as well as other health benefits. They also help ameliorate damaging effects of Climate Change.
•  Make solar power an integral part of new builds

Here is my full Manifesto from 2016 London Mayoral election:

•  I would ban diesel as quickly as possible from Central London and the outer boroughs : 9500 premature deaths, Children’s growth stunted and countless more suffering health issues as a result of pollution is completely unacceptable and a national scandal.
• Active travel must be prioritised throughout London: 1 in 6 are dying of inactivity, Childhood obesity rates in London are the worst in the EU.
• I would like to ban all private cars in Central London ( zones 1 & 2 ) and create a licensing system or transit permits for all other business vehicles such as taxis, delivery vans and contractor vehicles.
• Costs and availability of licenses would be based on lowest pollution and environmental footprint and whether the licence was deemed to be necessary. All vehicles would have to be diesel free and with low emissions. Licences could be revoked if serious injuries or death were inflicted on other road users through careless driving. There would have to be a cap on numbers of Taxis, mini cabs and private hire vehicles.
• HGVs on London’s streets would be required to adopt new safer design by 2018. They are disproportionately involved in fatal and serious injury to cyclists and pedestrians. The TFL Freight Unit needs to be reinstated to regulate the industry to work economically and sensitively on London’s streets and deliveries need to be rationalised. Cargo bike deliveries would be incentivized and encouraged wherever possible.
• I would like to incentivize diesel drivers to ditch their cars and join Electric Car clubs. These incentives would be funded by raising Residents Parking Permits to £1,000 per year as has been introduced in Southampton Central. Car clubs must be publicly owned to avoid Uber style corporate dominance.
• Freeing up the roads from private cars would create space for good quality walking and cycling infrastructure allowing a large majority of Londoners to feel safe and comfortable to cycle and walk in Central London. I believe the ambition for 40-50% cycling modal share in Central London is what we should be aiming for. This could then free up more space on public transport in the outer boroughs to travel into the centre.
• I would like all London streets in Zones 1 & 2, excluding buses on the main arteries, to be free of motorised traffic in the morning and evening from 8am-10am and 4pm-7pm. This would encourage as many people as possible to walk, cycle or use public transport in the rush hours. Children could cycle to and from school.  Delivery vans, taxis and other business vehicles would be free to use the remaining 19 hours.
•  A joined up cycling network that is direct, ambitious in scale and aims to create a real alternative to car use needs to be drawn up and published. The London Central Grid and the CS1 ‘Superhighway’ are disappointing, drawing on what already exists and not safe or inclusive of children’s needs and those with disability requirements. Whole cycling road corridors, free of motorised traffic need to be adopted to re allocate space to cycling.
• Identifying rat runs which indicate the desire lines carved out in London and transferring access to just active travel with no motorised vehicles would create a network of more direct routes. Councils will be financially rewarded for closing rat runs to motorised traffic. Trials would start immediately with road closures similar to those used on the mini holland in Walthamstow .
• The proposed HS2 Cycle Route linking up cities outside London to the centre are exactly the kind of ambition that gets me excited. The A10 from Shoreditch to Cambridge and beyond are the kind of routes we should be prioritising for cyclists over cars.
• Pedestrianisation in busy Central London locations where pavements cannot absorb surges in tourists, shoppers, train and bus passengers are essential for the safety of vulnerable road users. Oxford Street is an obvious candidate but there are many streets who would benefit from a car free environment and it makes total economic sense to create a livable city where people feel safe and relaxed.
• I would like to introduce Active Travel Corridors which are wholly for non motorised vehicles throughout London. Choosing rat runs which flag up direct routes off the main roads could be one way of identifying corridors and closing down misuse of residential roads.
• It is wholly unacceptable and a national scandal that on high spike pollution days the Mayor has not asked for drivers to leave their cars at home or banned cars to save lives. In Paris, Mayor Hildago has successfully lobbied her Government to enshrine in law that on high pollution days half the cars will be banned. I fully support this here in London and in cities all over the UK.
• Car free days on Sundays as in Bogota, or Saturdays as in Amsterdam are a great way to trial new ways of using the public highway. Car free months as in Suwon, South Korea and  Johannesburg this Autumn make it easier to trial how a city can adjust and re imagine itself to become a more liveable city.
• At weekends I would like to free London’s streets in zones 1&2 from non-essential motorised traffic between 10am-6pm.
• I would like to cut public transport fares, if possible, to make it more attractive to users. Maybe also to include family discounts for travel at the weekend.
• I would like to increase all parking fees, residential parking permits and visitor permits to truly represent their cost in terms of space and congestion to the Public Highway. These extra revenues would be used to build a world-class cycling infrastructure, fit for an eight year old. TFL and local government is not legally obliged to provide parking.
• Stations are strategic hubs and need to be pedestrianised to cope with surges in passengers, and furnished with generous cycling parking / hire bikes to create an integrated transport system.
• I would like all buses and Black cabs to run on the cleanest technology possible.
• I would like taxis to use technology such as maaxiapp to become sharing hire vehicles, thereby cutting costs for customers and becoming more efficient.
•  I would like pedestrians and cyclists to receive priority treatment on London’s roads as they do in Holland and Denmark or presumed liability, as some have suggested.
• I would like to plant trees in residential streets that have extra space freed up by the removal of parked residential private cars.
• I would like to reclaim car parks that would be redundant as brownfield sites for new homes. These would be designated for key workers of essential services, at a reasonable rent and linked to their jobs in the locality. This would also cut journeys for these employees who often work shifts.
• i would prioritise social housing over affordable housing. Affordable housing is a very woolly term and easily open to abuse. .
• I would also build prohibition of buy to leave (empty) and zero parking spaces into planning for new homes.
• All new homes need to be built with solar panel provision
• I would like hire vehicles that pollute the least and with the lowest environmental footprint to be available on the outskirts of the city to rent for travel outside London.
• I believe cycle lanes need to be safe for an eight year old to use. Just to paint on a road is not sufficient to secure a wide range of cyclists. It is essential for cycling to be inclusive of all.
• I believe that transport costs, pollution and journey length caused by waiting in traffic jams would be reduced due to less congestion from private cars. This would benefit the London economy and make it more attractive for tourists. Also Emergency vehicle response times could be reduced.
• I would maintain, enforce and expand 20mph zones to cover all of London.
• ‘Obesity will bankrupt the NHS if a serious effort is not made to tackle the problem’, the chief executive of NHS England has warned. The capital has a highest rate of childhood obesity in the EU.  Making it as safe and attractive for children and adults to cycle will I believe lower obesity levels as has been shown in Holland and Denmark, a preventative measure that will help the NHS reduce costs significantly.
• Inactivity, whether obese or not, is a killer on the scale of smoking. 33% of people in the UK do less than 30 minutes per day. Active travel is the easiest way to build exercise into daily life. People who drive private cars are statistically the most inactive. Allowing an obesogenic environment to develop where people get straight into their cars outside their home and drive to park near their destination is creating a health crisis. We must stop encouraging people to drive by making it too easy and cheap.
•  I have been very impressed by ”Wheels for Wellbeing’ and Bikes not Barriers’ which offers a tailored approach to Disability Cycling with a wide range of customised options. I would support and extend this service to encourage as many people with disabilities to take up ownership of our roads. I would also like to continue making public transport as accessible as possible and allow buggies to enjoy the freedom to ride along with cyclists. Sharing taxis for people with disabilities would cut costs, and could be equipped to meet specific needs.
• I would like traffic lights to be synced to the average cyclist rather than the car and reverse the time pedestrians have to wait at traffic lights which has been increased to accommodate cars.
• I would like to continue upgrading and extending the public transport network to make it as efficient and accessible as possible, making all lines 24 hour, as in New York.
• I would like to reverse the paving over of gardens for parking to reduce flash flooding.
• I would like Taxis to be legally required to have cycle racks, as they do in Denmark
• I would like there to be two sizes of Boris bikes. Some women have commented that the one size does not fit all!
• I would like to legislate for HGV and vans and Taxis to be required to fit the latest cycle safety technology and be designed to minimise harm to vulnerable road users.
• I would like to introduce Bike Hangars where required on London’s streets. Living accommodation is often reduced in London and this would be a safe housing for bikes on local streets.
• There should be no expansion of airports in London. Rail needs to be the first choice for internal journeys. Taxation of air miles could contribute to the investment in rail infrastructure and subsidisation of train tickets.internal flights should never be cheaper than rail equivalents and need to be taxed accordingly.
• Parks / community green space in London should never be allowed to be sold on for profit.
• I support a not-for-profit National London City Park to encourage the use of green space for the whole community.
• Force City Hall contractors to comply with freedom for information requirements.
  

  Nominations

  On 5 May 2016 there will be elections for: the Mayor of London, London Assembly Constituency Members, and London Assembly London-wide list Members.

  The nominations period will run from 21 to 31 March 2016.

  Candidate qualification

  Anyone interested in becoming a candidate in any of the contests on 5 May must meet the legal qualifications and follow the relevant nomination process. Candidates must be:

  • at least 18 years old when nominations open on 21 March 2016
  • a citizen of the UK, Republic of Ireland, European Union or Commonwealth
  • be registered to vote in London, or have lived, worked, rented or owned property in London for the last 12 months.

  There are also a number of disqualifications from standing such as:

  • holding a job which restricts you from standing as a candidate in these elections. Example jobs include being a member of staff of the Greater London Authority, London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, Transport for London, London Development Agency, and other local authority staff holding a politically restricted post
  • you are the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or interim order
  • you have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three months or more (including a suspended sentence), without the option of a fine, during the five years before polling day
  • you have been disqualified under the Representation of the People Act (RPA) 1983 which covers corrupt or illegal electoral practices and offences relating to donations
  • you have been disqualified under the Audit Commission Act 1998

  This is only an outline of some of the disqualifications and more information will be in the candidates and agents guidance. It is a criminal offence to make a false statement on your nomination papers and therefore if you are in any doubt, you should contact your employer, consult the legislation or, if necessary, take your own independent legal advice.

  Nominating an election agent

  All candidates may nominate a person to act as their election agent. That is, a person who is responsible for the proper management of the candidate’s campaign. This particularly applies to financial aspects as only the election agent can make payments for the election expenses.

  You must have an agent. Therefore if you do not appoint an agent, or do not wish to, you are deemed to be your own agent.

  Certain individuals – such as Returning Officers, their staff or someone not entitled to vote due to a conviction under the RPA 1983 – cannot be election agents.

  You must declare your election agent and a declaration form and deadline will be provided in due course.

• Standing for election for Mayor of London

  Candidates who wish to stand for Mayor of London must submit the following to the Greater London Returning Officer (GLRO):

  

  • a completed nomination form and a signed and witnessed nomination consent form
  • 330 signatures of people on the electoral register in London supporting the nomination, consisting of 10 from each London borough and 10 from the City of London
  • a deposit of £10,000, which is returned if you get more than five per cent of first choice votes cast in the election for Mayor
  • if you are standing as the candidate for a political party, a certificate from the registered political party’s nominating officer
  • if you want to use a registered political party’s emblem on the ballot paper, a signed request

  Candidates can also have an election address manifesto published in the Mayoral address booklet which is sent to all registered voters in London before polling day. To have an election address included, candidates must contribute £10,000 towards the cost of the booklet. This cost is specified in the Greater London Authority Elections (Election Addresses) Order 2003), and is non-discretionary.

  Standing for election for the London Assembly: Constituency Assembly Member candidates

  Candidates who want to stand as a Constituency Assembly Member must submit the following to the relevant Constituency Returning Officer (CRO):

  

  • a completed nomination and nomination consent form which must be obtained from the CRO responsible for the constituency where the candidate wants to stand.
  • a deposit of £1,000 which is returned if you get more than five per cent of votes cast in that constituency
  • if you are standing as the candidate for a political party, a certificate of authorisation from the registered political party’s nominating officer
  • if you want to use a registered political party’s emblem on the ballot paper, a signed request

  For information on each of the CROs, please download our quick guide, found at the bottom of this page.

  Standing for election for the London Assembly: London-wide Assembly Member candidates

  Independent candidates and political parties that want to stand in the London-wide Assembly contest must submit the following to the GLRO:

  

  • a completed nomination form. Registered political parties who want to put forward a list of candidates must obtain a party list nomination form which they can put up to 25 names on, while independent candidates have a separate nomination form.
  • a signed and witnessed nomination consent form, which must be submitted by each of the individual candidates standing for election, regardless of whether they are independent or representing a political party.
  • a deposit of £5,000 regardless of how many names are on the form. This is returned if the party or independent candidate receives more than 2.5 per cent of the total votes cast across London in the London-wide Assembly election.
  • a request signed by a political party’s nominating officer if the party wants to use the party’s emblem on the ballot paper.

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