Sadiq Khan’s ‘night-tsar’ has been given a 4.5 per cent pay rise regardless of presiding over London’s declining nightlife.
Earlier this 12 months, Amy Lamé insisted she was value her £120,000-a-year wage regardless of receiving backlash over Metropolis Corridor-funded journeys to Australia, Italy and Spain.
Business specialists and the Conservative celebration have beforehand questioned whether or not she is offering worth for cash as startling figures confirmed London was falling behind cities similar to Liverpool and Birmingham.
Now, it has been revealed that Ms Lamé has acquired an annual pay rise, in step with different employees on the Higher London authority, which takes her wage to £132,000-a-year, The Occasions studies.
This additionally comes after Khan secured a historic third time period as London Mayor final week, utilizing his victory speech to inform Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ‘give the general public a selection’ and name for a normal election.
Sadiq Khan’s ‘night-tsar’ Amy Lamé (pictured) has been given a pay rise
Ms Lamé has blamed the earlier Mayor of London Boris Johnson for the struggling nighttime economic system
Ms Lamé, who can be a DJ on BBC Radio 6, defined that she was appointed in 2016 ‘to assist London thrive as a 24 hour metropolis.’
Many have criticised Sadiq Khan’s determination to fund the American-born DJ’s place after figures from Sq.-Up, a agency which processes funds for companies, stated that when it comes to the sheer variety of transactions Liverpool and Birmingham have now overtaken London.
One survey discovered that 1,165 venues have closed in London since pandemic, and the top of 1 trade physique says that whereas all cities in Britain are going through points, Ms Lamé has to reply for London’s poor efficiency.
Michael Knill, the CEO of the Night time Time Industries Affiliation (NTIA), instructed The Occasions that he believes that whereas the ‘night time tsar’ has to supervise all 32 boroughs of London – a job that’s far larger than others in her place elsewhere – there are nonetheless questions that want answering.
He stated: ‘There’s a massive distinction between signposting and advantage signalling and driving tangible change. We see a whole lot of bulletins however not so many outcomes.’
He claimed ‘the trade feels there hasn’t been a powerful sufficient voice for us’ and that whereas there have been worthwhile initiatives similar to the ladies’s night time security constitution, extra is required.
Earlier this 12 months, photographs posted underneath #LameLondon on X – previously generally known as Twitter – went viral displaying the state of London’s empty streets at night time, as among the capital’s best-known bars face closure.
New figures revealed that London’s nighttime economic system has been overtaken by Liverpool and Birmingham
Michael Knill, the CEO of the Night time Time Industries Affiliation (NTIA) questioned whether or not Ms Lamé would ship any ‘tangible change’
One consumer posted an image of an indication studying ‘no drinks exterior after 9.30pm’ on the social media web page, complaining ‘London nightlife is virtually nonexistent’.
One other re-posted a picture of a abandoned Kingly Avenue in Soho from March final 12 months, saying: ‘I dwell in Soho and don’t know a pub I can get a drink in put up 10.30pm on a weeknight.’
Between 2006 and 2022 it was reported that greater than half the capital’s LGBTQ+ venues shut their doorways, in keeping with the Telegraph, with the proprietor of London’s Heaven nightclub additionally warning the membership dangers closure as a consequence of hovering prices.
A mean of two nightclubs additionally closed each week between March 2020 and December 2023 throughout the UK, in keeping with the Night time Time Industries Affiliation (NTIA).
Though most of Ms Lamé’s journeys overseas – which noticed her journey to Sydney, Bologna and Madrid within the house of 12 months in 2022 and 2023 – weren’t paid for by the taxpayer and had been as an alternative funded by way of non-public donations.
However there have been prices for the taxpayer. In line with her bills, for a visit to Berlin, she claimed for flights and lodging.
