Capital Letters by JBP provides an insight into the world of London politics and development.
Housing features in Mayor’s Question Time
Mayor’s Question Time took place in City Hall on Wednesday, 17 June and the issue of social housing was again on the agenda.
Green Assembly Member Darren Johnson asked about the net additions to housing in London each year. His concern was that the demolition of council houses in the redevelopment of estates such as Aylesbury in Southwark would result in a loss of social housing. The Mayor responded by highlighting his administration’s record in increasing the number of affordable homes by 12,000, compared to a decline of 13,000 under Ken Livingstone’s tenure.
AM Stephen Knight (Lib Dem) questioned the Mayor’s record of building homes on GLA land, which he committed to in his manifesto. Around 1,000 homes out of the promised 39,000 have so far been built. In his response, Johnson argued that they “had disposed of 94 percent of GLA land”, that the administration needs to look towards developing other sites with potential for housing.
Housing Minister to demolish London council estates
Following his recent reappointment as Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis has made calls to demolish and redevelop council estates across London. He argues that the move would help deliver a much needed boost to the supply of new homes in London and has used the recent developments of Haggerston estate in Hackney and Packington estate in Islington as examples where high rise concrete blocks can be “torn down and replaced with streets”.
His announcement builds upon earlier calls made by Lord Adonis, who published a paper earlier this year arguing that local authorities ought to knock down existing council estates on valuable brownfield land, to build mixed communities that would function as 'city villages'. His paper was met with criticism from housing campaigners, who remain concerned that the price of homes on new development sites is too costly for people who currently live in council housing.
Lewis has stated that relatively low densities on housing estates could be partly to blame for the lack of available housing in the Capital. With £150m worth of government funds allocated to the redevelopment of London, he is hoping that the demolition of these estates “will provide more homes and commercial space for the same amount of land”.
MEP Syed Kamall enters the London mayoral race
Last week Syed Kamall announced he will be running for Mayor of London, ensuring there won’t be a coronation for Zac Goldsmith as the Conservative candidate. The two Tory hopefuls break the typical Conservative mould; Zac Goldsmith is on the party’s left and a committed environmentalist, predicted to attract many second preference votes from Green and Liberal Democrat supporters; Syed Kamall is the Muslim son of an immigrant bus driver with a blue-collar background similar to Labour candidate Sajid Javid. His strong base among London’s Conservative activists – he’s one of London’s MEPs and leader of the third largest group in the European Parliament – will also serve him well.
Zac Goldsmith had made his candidacy conditional on the approval of his constituents in Richmond Park, for who he is MP, which he duly received. Seventy nine per cent of those who responded said yes, though turnout was only 26%.
They join London Assembly Member Andrew Boff, former footballer Sol Campbell, the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Stephen Greenhalgh and entrepreneur and campaigner Ivan Massow in the Conservative camp.
Shortlisted Labour candidates begin to lay out stalls
It is the beginning of a mayoral race in which you would think the Labour camp has a monopoly on the debate. Despite a brief intervention in coverage by Zac Goldsmith MP, who has formally announced his candidacy for the Conservative nomination, all eyes are on Labour hopefuls as they set out their policy stalls.
Whilst the often independently-minded member of parliament for Richmond Park appears to be the biggest threat to a buoyant Labour party (at least in the capital), both Tessa Jowell and Sadiq Khan are pulling away as the two leaders in a shortlisted pack of six. Jowell has been quick to make housing the issue at the centre of her campaign. Alongside the announcement of a “housing equivalent of Transport for London”, the former Olympics Minister claims there are 5,700 acres of land owned by TfL that could be used to build 2,000 affordable homes in each of the next 20 years. Jowell has said she will give boroughs the power to heavily fine ‘buy to leave’ property owners who leave their property empty for more than six months.
Sadiq Khan this week announced that he would pedestrianise Oxford Street. Not a new concept, it is an idea mooted previously by Labour colleagues and transport gurus Lord Adonis and Christian Wolmar (the latter being one of Khan’s fellow mayoral candidates). He has suggested the policy to “create one of the world’s best public spaces”, as part of a bigger plan to tackle London’s air pollution problem. Khan has added that he would extend London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone and buy only electric buses from 2018.
JBP's Mayoral Watch
- Mayoral hopeful, David Lammy demanded that his party scrap the £3 membership fee, saying it would leave out “thousands” of voters
- It has been reported that Tessa Jowell has so far received the backing of 305 Labour councillors in her bid to become mayor
- Sol Campbell was mocked after a media interview where he admitted that he "rarely rides the tube" while giving answers on how to improve the service