The GLA has been granted the funding to reflect the new responsibilities that were transferred to the Mayor of London following the Localism Act. They include responsibility for London's affordable housing programme and the long term development of the Olympic Park.
The funding is designed to support the Mayor of London's commitment to build 55,000 affordable homes by March 2015 and to bring 45,000 existing social homes up to current standards across London. It will also support the Mayor's Olympic Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC).
The £3bn funding for the GLA has been provided from the Communities and Local Government's existing resources for housing; from savings made by the closure of the Regional Development Agency and from funds for the Olympic legacy. It covers the spending review period up to 2014-2015.
Of the fund, £390 million is planned to support resource funding, £1,941m is planned for capital investment for housing and £481m is planned for capital investment for the transformation and development of the Olympic Park after the games.
The Localism Act devolved a number of powers from Ministers to the Mayor of London and the GLA.
From April all of the duties of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in London will be transferred to the Mayor of London and the GLA including the management of London's affordable housing programmes.
The Act will abolish the London Development Agency (LDA) from April and all its activities will be transferred to the GLA by the end of March. It also enables the Mayor of London to establish a Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) to oversee the long term development of the Olympic Park and its surrounding area.
The GLA will inherit all of the HCA's land and property assets in London and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will continue to receive a 50% share of receipts from Greenwich Peninsula.
The current Olympic land and debt deal, first agreed in March 2010, will also be replaced by new receipt sharing arrangements for the Olympic Park. This will reflect the devolution of the Olympic Legacy to the Mayor and will protect the interests of the taxpayer, the Government said.
The new Olympic receipts sharing arrangement will enable the Greater London Authority to fund any further capital investment in the Park and surrounding area, as well as cover the repayment of the residual debt the GLA will inherit from the London Development Agency. It is also proposed to reimburse the National Lottery distributors for their additional £675m contribution to the Olympic Public Sector Funding package.
"This settlement hands real power to London allowing Londoners to manage their own affairs," said Eric Pickles. "It goes hand in hand with the new localism powers and spending freedoms we are handing councils around the country so they can be as efficient and effective as possible with public funds."
