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Khan accuses Gove of ‘desperate political stunt’ in row over London Plan review
The mayor of London has described the housing secretary’s review of the London Plan as a “desperate political stunt” which will “undermine” affordable housebuilding in the capital.
Ahead of the publication of a report on the review, Sadiq Khan said the move would “fool no one” and that “Labour London is outbuilding the rest of the country, and we’re showing up ministers’ dismal failure on council and affordable housebuilding nationally”.
Michael Gove wrote to Mr Khan in December, announcing that he had appointed a panel of experts to review the London Plan, to consider the aspects of it which “could be preventing thousands of homes being brought forward, with a particular focus on brownfield sites in the heart of our capital”.
The housing secretary said: “Not only is delivery considerably short of your own London Plan target by approximately 15,000 homes per year, it was approximately 63,500 homes lower than actual need last year, as calculated by the standard method.
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“This is not a national issue. London was the worst-performing region in the Housing Delivery Test 2022.”
However, Mr Khan hit back with figures suggesting that London exceeded the government-set Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) target that “ministers themselves failed to hit outside” the capital.
The report on the government review is expected to be released this week, which could result in the government directing changes to London’s strategic planning framework.
It comes after Mr Gove put City Hall in special measures last month and threatened to strip the mayor of planning powers if he did not agree to an audit of housebuilding in London.
At the same time, in a speech on planning reforms in December, he confirmed housing targets were effectively abolished, as he published a new version of the National Planning Policy Framework.
He also said he would take tougher action on councils without local plans and those who frequently overturn recommendations from planning officers.
The social housing sector described the plans as a “blow to those desperate for somewhere to call home”.
In the speech, the housing secretary took aim at Mr Khan’s pro-affordable housing policies in developments, claiming his “requirement for such a high percentage of affordable homes in every new development imposes such significant costs that, in many cases, development doesn’t go ahead at all”.
The mayor’s office said London had been outbuilding the rest of England by over 20% since Mr Khan was elected.
On council and affordable housebuilding, it said London was delivering twice the level of council homebuilding as the rest of the country combined.
Last year, the mayor announced that London had surpassed a target set by central government to start 116,000 affordable homes by 2023.
However, figures in November showed that fewer than half of the homes started in London in the past eight years under the AHP have been completed.
Mr Khan said Conservative ministers had “frustrated” housebuilding with their “continuing delays and uncertainty, particularly around new rules on mandatory second staircases”.
He said ministers had intervened to block a number of new housing developments in London, two of which would have delivered 40% affordable housing.
Mr Khan said: “This latest review is a desperate political stunt by Conservative ministers, and it will fool no one.
“The truth is Labour London is outbuilding the rest of the country, and we’re showing up ministers’ dismal failure on council and affordable housebuilding nationally.
“Voters won’t look kindly on ministers undermining devolution to distract from their record of failure.
“And we certainly won’t take lessons from a government that has scrapped housing targets nationally.
“If the Conservatives really cared about boosting housing delivery, they’d act on my calls for more investment in affordable housing and stop caving to backbenchers by watering down housing targets.”
A government source told Inside Housing: “As ever with Sadiq Khan, his words do not match the reality faced by Londoners.
“Hundreds of thousands of families are locked out of the housing market in the capital because of his abject failure to deliver enough new homes.
“In the last three years the average number of net additional dwellings provided by the Labour mayor has been just 38,000.
“That is 15,000 fewer homes every year than the mayor’s own target in his London Plan.
“Londoners deserve better. This Conservative government has put the mayor’s housing plan in special measures, and we reserve the right to intervene to speed up housebuilding if Khan’s record of failure does not urgently improve.”
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “The advisors, supported by Lichfields consultants, have been appointed to provide an independent and impartial view of the changes needed to the London Plan.
“The expert advisors will assess whether there are specific changes to London Plan policies that could facilitate urban brownfield regeneration in London for housing delivery in an appropriate manner and, if necessary, recommend changes to the London Plan accordingly.”
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