Do Blacks Need a New London Mayor?

With less than two years to go before London's first elected mayor and assembly take office, the candidates are jockeying into position to win this prestigious post. Of all the tough problems the candidates will have to face --in dealing with the capital's transport, housing, health and crime -- the most pressing for black Londoners are neglected race and planning issues.

Vying for the five million votes of Londoners are some experienced campaigners and personalities. Lord Jeffrey Archer, a millionaire novelist, is a former Conservative government transport minister. London MPs include, Glenda Jackson, the Labour transport minister for London and Oscar-winning former actress, Ken Livingstone, the street-wise ex-Greater London Council leader, and Simon Hughes of the Liberal Democrat party.

Independents like Richard Branson, head of Virgin enterprises, have shown an interest in what he calls "the most exciting role anyone could aspire to in the UK". Trevor Phillips, a broadcaster, newspaper columnist and chair of the Runnymede Trust, a race relations charity, is the lone black personality in front running.

Racial concentration, though not yet as evident as in the USA, can be glimpsed in estates like Milton Court, in Deptford, south London. Deprivation, poor housing and high unemployment rates are endemic, according to recent studies. Many blacks have been thrown out of work because of budget cuts and job losses in their traditional job markets: rail and public transport, services and hospitals.

Against all odds, however, in their local neighbourhoods blacks have established a strong cultural presence. African Caribbean shops and churches do well. Networks of kinship and mutual aid abound. But even this tentative foothold in the changing modern city is under threat.

These policy flaws and disastrous results await redress by the new London executive equipped with a new set of urban planning tools. The mayor and directly elected 25-member assembly will have sweeping powers over key areas affecting Black Londoners: police, fire and transport services with control of a total budget of £3.3 billion. Crucially, for the first time since Margaret Thatcher's dismantling of London's planning system, the mayor is to lead a city revival strategy, spurred by a powerful business-led London Development Agency. Candidates should be prepared to address a challenging question: How can the new strategic planning powers be used to free blacks from the capital's most deprived areas and housing estates?

In what could be a fiercely fought campaign minority voters could hold a crucial hand in forcing positive strategies. Black and Asian residents make up almost a quarter of the capital's population, and are expected to top one-third in the next decade. Indeed, a pledge to harmonise urban reform and race relations could make a black candidate attractive to a traditionally "race-shy" white electorate. This would galvanise the mayoral race. A victory would put London on par with American cities like New York that elected David Dinkins its first black mayor.

Black leadership in London's public realm has an outstanding precedent, of course. The late Lord David Pitt served as member of the London County Council and was the first black leader of London's elected government, the Greater London Council. He left a legacy that combines the dignity of his Caribbean-ness with a belief in the power of law and broad alliances, across race, class and ideology, to bring progress to all citizens. He is remembered as "one of the first prominent blacks in British political life," by former Labour Chancellor Lord Healey, a debt acknowledged by Labour Leader Tony Blair.

Admittedly, there are no black mayoral candidates of Lord Pitt's stature and wisdom. Trevor Phillips is attractive, but unknown and untried politically. Yet to be heard from are high-powered London black executives like Heather Rabbatts and Herman Ouseley. Rabbatts is the £100,000-a-year chief executive of the troubled Lambeth borough council. Her ability to stem the borough's financial losses and maintain good relations with local blacks in Brixton, the "black capital of Britain", are worthwhile credentials for the new post. Ouseley chairs the government-supported Commission for Racial Equality, and was a widely respected chief executive in Lambeth borough. He also served as head of the Inner London Education Authority, one of London's biggest institutions.

Nevertheless, all mayoral candidates should focus on getting London's renewal and housing policies to work -- for community revitalisation, popular participation and good race relations. Commitment should be given to the inclusion of black councillors and community representatives in the London assembly. Candidates must understand that London's African Caribbean people are no longer "dark strangers", "guest-workers", ex-colonials and immigrants. Black Londoners are here to stay. Their labour and enterprise contributes millions to the capital's economy and is counted in the billions in taxes that Londoners hand back to the Government each year.

Dealing with neglected race and urban planning issues in what remains a post-Thatcher "divided city" will not be easy; but colour-blindness is no virtue. Policy changes are required if the new elected mayor and assembly are to provide what Labour's Deputy Leader John Prescott has called the "civic leadership and strategic direction which London so urgently needs".