Mayor Bullock's four questions for Lewisham

BCer Mike has spotted a blog by Mayor Bullock, which articulates his vision for the role of Labour in local government. Bullock writes:

Last year, I asked four questions locally which dominate our discussions about future years: 


How will we provide care for the growing number of elderly residents? 
How will we provide the jobs for our young people? 
How will we build enough homes for our growing population? 
How will we halt and reverse Environmental damage locally? 


But these questions are not just relevant to Lewisham, or even confined to London. I believe that these are four fundamental questions that need to be addressed up and down the country.

So the question is, are these the right four fundamental questions (and by questions, he means priorities)?

It's very strange not to see education mentioned at all. It's not really in the Council's gift to provide jobs for the boroughs' young people (although it can use the planning system, among other things, to encourage business to invest locally) and it doesn't make sense for an inner London borough to consider the job market in isolation. Surely the best thing it can do is to give Lewisham's young people the best possible chance of finding a job, by offering them good quality education and training.

It's also a little surprising that crime and anti-social behaviour go unmentioned, given that many residents would list them as a top priority. But if we have to restrict ourselves to four questions, it would probably just miss our list too, on the basis that the Council's powers are limited in this area.

We'd also re-frame the housing point (to include public spaces) and the environmental point (to emphasise that it's not only the local environment we need to consider, but the borough's broader environmental impact, through waste management and energy efficiency).

So, our four would be:

How will we provide for a growing number of elderly residents?
How will we provide high-quality education for our young people?
How will we build enough homes and public spaces for our growing population?
How will we improve the quality of the local environment while minimising residents' environmental impact?

What about yours?