Boris Johnson to slash London environmental team in half

The team in charge of London's bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase recycling and biodiversity is to be cut in half in a major shake-up that calls into question the commitment to the environment of the mayor, Boris Johnson.

Leaked documents seen by The Guardian show that the Greater London Authority plans to reduce the total number of 40 staff working on environmental issues in the capital to 20. The cuts will reduce the climate change and energy team from 10 to three, and see the loss of the head of environment and the air quality specialist posts among others.

The shake-up in city hall follows Johnson's pledge to reduce costs and streamline bureacracy but has been met with scepticism. "This is not so much a shakeup as a massacre. It goes way beyond what would be considered efficiency savings", said Darren Johnson, Green party assembly member. "London has been considered a world leader on environment and it should not pretend it can continue [to lead] with half the number of people."

The internal paper proposing the cuts said: "The proposed changes would bring together two units which have significant overlaps in policy terms — examples include the roll-out of electric vehicles, improvements to London's air quality and noise reduction initiatives."

Before winning the mayoral election, Johnson said that the environment was at or near the top of London's agenda. He pledged "to take action to make London the greenest city in the world". The capital is regarded by the government as key to whether Britain meets its international climate change and air quality targets.

A Johnson spokesperson defended the proposed cuts: "Success at tackling environmental issues is not measured by the size of the team at city hall but by the progress of work on the ground. The mayor has an ambitious target to cut London's carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2025 and a raft of initiatives are being developed. The proposed combination of the environment and transport team is a commonsense approach."

Analysis shows that after the job cuts, there will be more senior managers and fewer, less specialised people being left to deal with day-to-day environmental matters.

This article first appeared on The Guardian

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