The Commission, to be chaired by William McKee, will also showcase examples of excellence in service delivery and initiatives in outer London.

Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Mayor Johnson claimed “the focus of the previous Mayoralty has been channelled towards inner London and a few favoured areas” and said the role of town centres and communities in the suburbs “has been overlooked, if not ignored”.

The Mayor said he was “determined to redress that imbalance and tap into this rich source of business and planning expertise to create an even stronger and more vibrant outer London which will ensure the capital remains an economic force to be reckoned with for generation after generation.”

McKee, a former Chairman of Tilfen Land and Chair of the Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, said his Commission “will work hard to identify these new hubs and the ideas that have built outer London’s successful town centres so that they can be applied across the capital.”

The Mayor’s comments came in response to a question from Liberal Democrat Assembly member Dee Doocey at this morning’s Mayor’s Question Time.

Doocey asked Mayor Johnson whether increased use of public funds to build the Olympic village should lead to an increase on the current target of 30% of affordable homes.

In response the Mayor said he was wary of creating a “ghetto feeling” by increasing the target and appeared to suggest that it was more important that the remainder of homes be attractive to the better off than to use the games to tackle London’s shortage of affordable homes.

The Mayor’s remarks are likely to be seized on by his opponents who have ben critical of the decision to scrap the GLA’s London-wide target of 50% of all new homes to be affordable, instead City Hall officials are negotiating individual targets with each borough.

Separately, the Mayor agreed to regularly publish the performance of councils against their affordable housing targets but was pressed by Labour’s Len Duvall to ensure that councils did not pass off rebuilt social homes as dwellings built under their targets.

Today’s session was also marked by an angry exchange between the Mayor and Green Party AM Jenny Jones who called Johnson “a liar” after Mr Johnson said his administration was the first in London not to ask the public for more money.

Jones claimed the Mayor’s forthcoming fare increase proved this was not the case. A clearly angry Johnson hit back, stressing that he’d been referring to the lack of an increase in the GLA’s council tax precept.

Johnson also received a hard time from Labour’s John Biggs over the decision to cease all development work on the Thames Gateway Bridge. As previously reported there was qualified support for the Mayor from the Green Party AM Darren Johnson and Tory AMs were generally more supportive although Roger Evans AM has said elsewhere that he’s “disappointed” to lose the project.

Mr Livingstone said the coalition would “bring together all Londoners who want their city to lead the world in the 21st century and protect their quality of life at a time when every penny counts.”

Progressive London’s launch follows Livingstone’s publication of an eight point plan to help London’s economy traverse the financial downturn and a number of high profile public  interventions since May’s GLA elections.

The coalition is expected to campaign against Mayor Johnson’s recently announced above-inflation fare increase.

Mr Livingstone said the current financial crisis “means that to sustain London as the best city in the world and protect living standards we need more public investment in areas like transport, good housing and improving the environment while, for example, holding down fares and promoting the city’s international openness and multicultural dynamism.”

Livingstone accused his successor, Boris Johnson, of “undermining London’s prosperity and pursuing policies like cutting transport investment and pushing up fares for ordinary Londoners while letting Chelsea tractors clog the roads and poison the city’s air.”

Weblink: www.progressivelondon.org.uk

Progressive London conference
A spokesman for Progressive London has confirmed the group will hold a conference in the capital on January 24th.

Speakers are expected to include trade unionists, academics and MPs as well as a number of London Assembly Members including former Deputy Mayor of London Nicky Gavron, Green Assembly members Jenny Jones AM and Darren Johnson AM; Labour Leader on the Assembly Len Duvall AM and  Leader of the London Assembly Liberal Democrats Mike Tuffrey AM.

Adam Bienkov of the ToryTroll blog, Tom Barry from Boriswatch.co.uk and MayorWatch editor Martin Hoscik will discuss new media’s role in scrutinising London government.

Mayor Johnson said his team “are working hard to help all London’s businesses so that they can weather the inevitable economic downturn” and promised that “London’s Asian business community which supports over 200,000 jobs will be a major focus of our work.”

London’s two most senior politicians were joined by Michael Geoghegan, Group Chief Executive of HSBC, who sponsored the reception as well as Tony Sarin, Chair of the Asian Business Association and Cobra Beer Chairman, Lord Karan Bilimoria.

Mr Geoghegan commented: “with nearly 2.5 million people in the UK having Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan origins, and 10 per cent of the UK’s GDP generated by Asian businesses, the contribution of this community is essential to the UK economy.”

The Mayor has promised to set out a detailed action plan for the capital’s economy next month.

Assembly Members will question LDA Chief Executive Peter Rogers, Andrew Travers (Group Director Resources and Risk) and Sarah Ebanja (Deputy Chief Executive and Group Director of Jobs, Skills and Growth) over the LDA’s new focus on jobs and economic growth.

AMs will also be hearing from the Mayor’s Policy Director, Anthony Browne, about the Mayor’s economic recovery action plan and economic policy.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will take place on Tuesday 11 November 2008 in City Hall’s Committee Room 5.

Mr Johnson says “Londoners are set to pay more and get less under the Mayor’s new public transport proposals”, adding: “Fare rises are never great, but if you can see real investments being made they are at least easier to take.  This Mayor appears to think that it is acceptable to cut investment but still plan fare hikes.”

Mayor’s Question Time will be held Wednesday, 12 November 2008 at City Hall and is open to the public.

The Merton Partnership - a multi-agency partnership of local stakeholders, including bodies such as the council, the police and healthcare providers - say the plan will set out a blueprint of the borough’s aspirations for a safe, strong, healthy and vibrant borough.

The partnership is asking for residents’ comments to help it shape a plan that gives local people a clear vision of what they want Merton to be like ten years from the plan’s launch. If you live, work, go to school or are a regular visitor to the borough, the council is keen to hear your views on what you want Merton to be like and what can be done to make it a better place. 

Councillor David Williams, Leader of Merton Council and Chairman of the Merton Partnership said: “To ensure we can keep delivering the best services at good value for money we need to know what residents want, so please do get involved and help us build a community plan that works for you.”

A dedicated web page has been launched to gather people’s comments and the partnership is also building on the results of other public consultations and surveys which have taken place such as the annual residents’ survey.

The event is to be held at Bromley Civic Centre on Thursday 6 November 2008  and will be chaired by local London Assembly member James Cleverly.

Assembly Members will also be available for questioning and questions can be submitted in advance as well as on the night.

Anyone wishing to attend can request free tickets by calling 020 7983 4762 or emailing peoplesquestions@london.gov.uk.

Mr Barnes was joined by Mayoral advisor Alex Bax and leading figures from the hospice movement and NHS for event which saw volunteers, councils and hospice and healthcare staff to share ideas on how to improve end of life care.

Speaking ahead of the event Mr Barnes paid tribute to the capital’s hospices “for their vital and essential work.”

Barnes, who is London’s second most senior politician, added: “As part of the Mayor’s work to reduce health inequalities we are focussing on making services more accessible and looking at how the Mayor can help to ensure high quality of end of life care is available for all Londoners.”

Creation of the body, intended to ensure the capital remains “one of the foremost global cities in which to do business“ and chaired by WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, was announced by the Mayor last month. 

Johnson said yesterday’s meeting had “exceeded my expectations and I go away with some excellent and thought provoking ideas that I and my team will certainly use as we develop policies that will secure London as a number one destination to live, work and visit.”