LONDON LOCAL BODIES

London Local Bodies

London Local Bodies

Introduction

London is capital of England and the home of over 7.5 million people, It is widely recognized as one of largest cities in the European Union and is considered to be a sister city to New York, Paris and Tokyo. In addition, London is also popular as a tourist attraction. Countless tourists flock in London every year to view the monuments in London. As a result, London continues to bustle with activity and energy throughout the year. Some of the most popular tourist sites in London include the London Eye, the Tower of London, Hyde Park, the British Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens amongst others.

Greater London Authority

The Greater London Authority (GLA) consists of a directly elected executive mayor and an assembly to provide oversight of the mayor's policies, budget and services. This kind of mayor was very different to the traditional ceremonial mayor in England. The Mayor of London was, in reality an American import which was intended by the government to provide a visible figurehead for the capital's government. Because of London's population and its importance within the United Kingdom of the mandate is significant. (Elcock, 1994, Pp. 82)

The GLA assumed responsibility for a major part of the capital's transport services, for spatial planning for part of economic development provision and in a less direct way for fire and emergency services and the police. The current mayor was elected in May 1, 2008, Boris Johnson and is from the Conservative Party. Purpose of The GLA was created to improve coordination between the districts of the city and the role of the mayor, to give London a single representative.

Areas in which the GLA has responsibilities include transport, police, fire and rescue, development and strategic planning. The GLA does not openly grant any services. His work is done as an alternative of four functional bodies, placed under the umbrella of the GLA, and working on the suggestion of the mayor and assembly. These functional bodies are:

Transport for London: Answerable for the management of many aspects of London's transport arrangement, including public transport, highways, traffic organization and administration of the London blocking charge.

Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA): Answerable for supervision of the Metropolitan Police Service, which has the funds for public safety right through Greater London. London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority: This manages the London Fire Brigade and organizes emergency planning.

Mayor of London

The direct powers of London's mayor remain limited, when compared to similar offices in other world cities, but he does perform an essential catalytic and influencing role across agencies, performing an ambassadorial role both outside the U.K. and inside government and with the business community. This new role has in turn created a new form of integrated strategic planning at the London metropolitan scale with a commitment to planning and a determination for public, private and voluntary actors to enter into partnerships to realise development. If anything this should have taken some of the political heat out of ...