The London Councils Grants Committee has agreed funding for a four-year pan-London grants programme to tackle homelessness and combat domestic and sexual abuse. This latest phase of the grants programme, which will run from 2022 to 2026, is funded by London boroughs on a cross-party basis and will provide support to London’s most vulnerable residents.

Chair of the London Councils Grants Committee, Mayor Damien Egan, said: “Tackling homelessness and domestic abuse are major priorities for London Councils. We are announcing a new £24 million programme of funding to enable London boroughs to do more to tackle these issues. I am pleased that we will deliver these new projects by working directly with London’s voluntary and community sector organisations.

“Since we started our grants programme, London Councils has helped over 13,000 Londoners facing homelessness and over 17,000 survivors of domestic and sexual abuse to access the support they need to rebuild their lives. This new funding will help many thousands more Londoners access services when they need them most.”  

London has won a bid to host the biennial Ecocity World Summit in June 2023. First held in 1990, Ecocity World Summit is the pioneer global conference on sustainable cities. 

The hybrid physical-virtual summit will take place 6-8 June 2023 at the Barbican Centre. It will convene representatives from communities across the city from school children, academia and professionals to investors, trade associations and political leaders, to share new thinking and maintain the energy and momentum generated by COP26.

London Councils supported the bid that was led by New London Architecture (NLA) in partnership with London & Partners, the Barbican Centre and professional conference organisers MCI.

Cllr Georgia Gould, Chair of London Councils, said: “The Ecocity Summit will provide an opportunity for London’s boroughs to showcase the work we are doing with our communities to deliver a more sustainable city to an international audience. Boroughs are keen to collaborate with global innovators and investors and learn from cities across the world to drive forward our objective of bringing down London’s carbon emissions to net zero in an inclusive and sustainable way.”

London Councils' Executive met yesterday (18 January). Items on the agenda included: Review of Election Fees for 2022/23; the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement Outcome and Health and Care Integration.

The full agenda and papers are available here.

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