The government’s proposals to “cut red tape” in the planning system will make it harder to build affordable and social homes in the capital, the mayor of London has warned.
Writing in The Independent , Sadiq Khan said the changes would “mean fewer social and affordable homes being built every year, poorer quality housing and local people left with out-of-place buildings and no opportunity to have their say”.
The government’s wide-ranging proposals include abolishing Section 106, a legal instrument that gives councils powers to require developers to build infrastructure or affordable homes in order to get planning permission.
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Under the plans, the powers would be replaced with a “national levy” set by central government. Last month, housing minister Robert Jenrick was urged to resign after admitting he helped a developer avoid statutory contributions to a council in east London.
Section 106 has become a major contributor to the construction of affordable homes since it was introduced in 1990. A study by Savills in April 2019 found that the instrument was behind almost half – 47 per cent – of total new build affordable homes built in the past three years.
The government says the replacement will deliver “at least as much, if not more” affordable housing, but figures in the social housing sector have queued up to warn against its abolition.
The London mayor described the government’s overall approach as “a nakedly ideological assault on local democracy and an attack on London and Londoners”.
“The government’s so-called planning revolution will be a disaster for London and will ride roughshod over communities and locally elected representatives,” Mr Khan wrote in The Independent .
Housing minister Robert Jenrick (PA)
“The promise in the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto that ‘the days of Whitehall knows best are over’ looks increasingly laughable. Instead of devolution or levelling up, we now have a grab for power by the centre, with the government imposing a top-down, one-size-fits-all system.
“Ministers just don’t seem to understand that planning rules aren’t ‘red tape’ – they’re the basic standards which help deliver social and affordable homes in decent neighbourhoods that people want to live in. Unleashing developers to build or convert whatever they like, with only flimsy rules set remotely in Whitehall, will just mean more small, poor quality and expensive homes – out of reach of the vast majority of Londoners.”
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PA
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Getty
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EPA
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PA
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AFP via Getty
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PA
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47/50 21 June 2020Soccer Football – Premier League – Everton v Liverpool – Goodison Park, Liverpool, Britain – June 21, 2020 Children play football outside the stadium before the match, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Action Images via Reuters
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AFP via Getty
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AFP
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PA
2/50 5 August 2020Pakistan’s Abid Ali being bowled by England’s Jofra Archer during day one of the First Test match at the Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester
PA
3/50 4 August 2020The ‘Timbuktu tumblers’ from Kenya perform their balancing act on the Southsea waterfront as Zippos Circus reopens in Portsmouth
Rex
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5/50 2 August 2020Lewis Hamilton drives with a puncture towards the finish line to win the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone
POOL/AFP via Getty
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Pool via Reuters
7/50 31 July 2020People enjoy the sunny weather at a Bournemouth Beach
Reuters
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PA
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Getty/ECB
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Getty
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Pool via Reuters
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AFP via Getty
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PA
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Getty
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AFP via Getty
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Reuters
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PA
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PA
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AP
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The Daily Telegraph/PA
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PA
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PA
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Getty
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Reuters
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Reuters
28/50 10 July 2020People gather for the funeral of Dame Vera Lynn in Ditchling, England. During World War II she travelled to the frontlines, including Burma, entertaining British troops and boosting morale. She died on 18 June at her home in West Sussex
Getty
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PA
30/50 8 July 2020Players take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on the first day of the first Test cricket match between England and the West Indies at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton
AFP via Getty
31/50 7 July 2020A circus performer from the Association of Circus Proprietors in Whitehall, London. The association handed a petition to Downing Street to ask Prime Minister Boris Johnson to allow circuses to reopen
EPA
32/50 6 July 2020Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, which re-opened to the public after being closed due to the coronavirus lockdown
PA
33/50 5 July 2020People visit Columbia Road Flower Market, London, as it reopens following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions across England
PA
34/50 4 July 2020A member of bar staff wearing PPE in the form of a face mask, pours drinks inside the The Goldengrove in Stratford
AFP via Getty
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PA
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PA
37/50 1 July 2020Slackliner Sandor Nagy practices on the beach in Boscombe, on the south coast of England
AFP via Getty
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PA
39/50 29 June 2020Former Team GB Rhythmic Gymnastic dancer Hannah Martin during a training session at Ouse Valley Viaduct in Sussex
Reuters
40/50 28 June 2020People visit Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, that recently reopened following the easing of coronavirus lockdown restriction
PA
41/50 27 June 2020A protest for Justice for Shukri Abdi on Trafalgar Square in London, following a raft of Black Lives Matter protests across the UK
PA
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AFP via Getty
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PA
44/50 24 June 2020People enjoy the hot weather on Margate beach
Reuters
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PA
46/50 22 June 2020Police forensics officers carry out a search near Forbury Gardens, in Reading town centre, the scene of a multiple stabbing attack which took place at around 7pm on Saturday, leaving three people dead and another three seriously injured
PA
47/50 21 June 2020Soccer Football – Premier League – Everton v Liverpool – Goodison Park, Liverpool, Britain – June 21, 2020 Children play football outside the stadium before the match, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Action Images via Reuters
48/50 20 June 2020Arsenal’s midfielder Nicolas Pepe kneels before the Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion at the American Express Community Stadium in southern England
AFP via Getty
49/50 19 June 2020Bianca Walkden during a training session at the National Taekwondo Centre in Manchester
PA
50/50 18 June 2020French President Emmanuel Macron gestures about social distancing alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he arrives at Downing Street for a meeting. Macron also visited London to commemorate the 80th anniversary of former French president Charles de Gaulle’s appeal to French people to resist the Nazi occupation during World War II
AFP
The mayor claimed that “City Hall and London’s boroughs are united” in their concerns about the proposals.
The housing minister Mr Jenrick on Thursday denied that the changes would lead to “the development of the next generation of slum housing”, as claimed by the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects Alan Jones.
Mr Jenrick told Sky News: “That I’m afraid is complete nonsense. I saw those comments and they were put out before we’d even published the document.”
Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk