Interview: Space in the city - Nicky Gavron, deputy mayor of London
Nancy Rowntree
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Some of the biggest problems facing children in the UK are at their worst in London - from shocking levels of child poverty and escalating youth crime to sky-high childcare costs and a shortage of play spaces.
As she prepares for May's mayoral election, deputy mayor Nicky Gavron sometimes gets frustrated that the restricted powers of the mayor and the London Assembly limits how much they can do. For example, they cannot raise taxes. The important thing, she says, is to do the maximum possible with the powers they have.
"You have to work across a range of areas. And we always have to go beyond the perception of what we should do," says the Labour assembly member. "Planning, transport and the police are areas where we have the most influence so it's vital to work closely with other agencies in these areas, as well as central government, to have the most impact."
New planning guidance released at the beginning of March aims to do just that. Housing developments will now have to include at least 10 square metres of play area for every child that lives there (CYP Now 12-18 March).
Play is an area close to Gavron's heart. As a young mum, she began her political career campaigning to get schools to open in the holidays to provide play facilities for children.
"City kids need to stretch themselves - physically, culturally and intellectually - if they are going to grow up as balanced adults, so I have always been very keen on play," she says. "We've got to change this culture of 'no ball games' and 'no kids on the grass'. Children have been squeezed out of a lot of places by the car but we can address this imbalance through planning guidance."
Gavron, who was a youth worker in the 1970s, admits the situation for young Londoners has, if anything, worsened in terms of the activities on offer. She hopes the £79m from the London Youth Offer, announced by the mayor at the end of last year, will go towards rectifying this.
"Nothing like enough has been done to provide facilities for young people," she says. "One of the reasons so many children are seen as a problem is because there aren't enough activities. When I was involved in youth work there were detached youth workers everywhere and a range of youth centres. No wonder they turn inward, to drugs, or outward, to crime, when there is simply nothing for them to do."
But, with four out of 10 children in London living below the poverty line, child poverty stubbornly remains one of the capital's biggest issues, admits Gavron.
"Eradication of child poverty is a huge priority and we are doing everything we can. We are promoting flexible and affordable childcare, a living wage of £5.20 an hour and half-price bus fares for those on income support."
But is it enough? Take-up of the Mayor's Childcare Affordability Programme has been poor and, as it heads towards the end of its £33m funding period in November, a question mark hangs over its future.
Gavron says it's up to the government to do more. "We can only do so much," she says. "We need the government to increase child tax credit and to consider a London minimum wage."
But despite the limited powers of the London Assembly, Gavron believes the city can still show the rest of the UK the way forward.
"London is in a very good position to lead the way on policy-making and piloting initiatives," she says. "We have the highest number of under-18s in the country, in every category of need. Problems are brought into sharp relief here, yet we can give kids a great childhood. I moved here when I was 18 and had four kids. Personally I never considered having children anywhere else."
BACKGROUND - GAVRON'S CAREER IN THE LONDON ASSEMBLY
- Nicky Gavron was elected London Assembly Member for Enfield and Haringey in the 2000 election and was deputy mayor of London from 2000 until 2003
- Selected as Labour's mayoral candidate for the 2004 elections, Gavron stepped aside when Ken Livingstone was re-admitted to the party and was elected as London-wide Labour Assembly member, before again being appointed deputy mayor
- As London's deputy mayor, Gavron oversees the environment, strategic planning, and children and young people policy. She also set up the Greater London Authority Children and Young Person's Unit.