“Londoners have done their bit, now we will endeavour to do ours,” said AM Tony Arbour as London Assembly faced structural shake-up after Mayoral election.
Labour maintained their dominance of the Assembly holding onto twelve seats while the Conservatives and Lib Dems lost a seat each to make room for two new UKIP members – their first seats since a brief heyday after the 2004 elections.
London’s newest cohort of Assembly Members gathered to vote in positions of leadership and special responsibility, after a speech of thanks from outgoing chair, Jennette Arnold OBE.
The new chairman of the London Assembly has been confirmed as Tony Arbour (Conservative) and the new deputy chair is Ms Arnold (Labour).
“We will continue to publicly question the Mayor and those appointed by him to run the capital to ensure Londoners’ voices are heard now the campaigning is over and the real work begins,” said Mr Arbour.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Jennette for her hard work and dedication as chair of the Assembly over the past year and I welcome her expertise as she assumes the role of deputy chair.”
The role of the Assembly is to act as a check and balance on the activities of the Mayor of London.
Former Richmond Council leader, Mr Arbour is a Richmond Councillor for the Hampton Wick Ward.
First elected in 1971 as a councillor, he is also currently the cabinet member for community safety and is keen to improve the safety and environment of the borough along with improving access to the river.
The meeting also agreed the membership and chairs of a range of Committees to lead investigations into issues ranging from housing in the capital to tackling air quality.
The full list of committees, chairs and deputy chairs are as follows:
Audit Panel (Four Members)
Chairman: Peter Whittle (UKIP)
Deputy Chair: Keith Prince (Conservative)
Budget and Performance Committee (Seven Members)
Chairman: Gareth Bacon (Conservative)
Deputy Chair: Len Duvall (Labour and Co-operative)
Confirmation Hearings Committee (Nine Members)
Chairman: Andrew Boff (Conservative)
Economy Committee (Six Members)
Chair: Fiona Twycross (Labour)
Deputy Chair: Kemi Badenoch (Conservative)
Environment Committee (Seven Members)
Chair: Leonie Cooper (Labour)
Deputy Chair: Caroline Russell (Green)
GLA Oversight Committee (Nine Members)
Chairman: Gareth Bacon (Conservative)
Deputy Chair: Len Duvall (Labour)
Health Committee (Five Members)
Chair: Dr Onkar Sahota (Labour)
Deputy Chair: Shaun Bailey (Conservative)
Housing Committee (Seven Members)
Chairman: Andrew Boff (Conservative)
Deputy Chair: Tom Copley (Labour)
Planning Committee (Five Members)
Chairman: Tony Devenish (Conservative)
Deputy Chair: Nicky Gavron (Labour)
Police and Crime Committee (Ten Members)
Chairman: Steve O’Connell (Conservative)
Deputy Chair: Unmesh Desai (Labour)
Regeneration Committee (Five Members)
Chair: Navin Shah (Labour)
Deputy Chair: TBC
Transport Committee (Ten Members)
Chair: Caroline Pidgeon MBE (Green)
Deputy Chairman: Keith Prince (Conservative)
Picture courtesy of CpaKmoi, with thanks
