Sadiq Khan has started to flex his mayoral muscles in the London development world.
The capital’s new mayor has launched a review into thousands of acres of land being redeveloped in west London, refused his first major planning decision and slammed former mayor Boris Johnson’s record on reducing sales of homes to overseas buyers.
In his first move Khan has begun reviewing the levels of affordable housing at the £10bn Old Oak Common regeneration and investigating land ownership issues.
Of the estimated 24,000 homes included in the scheme, the affordable contribution has yet to be defined. It is assumed that he will increase them in line with his mayoral pledge of 50% affordable.
Johnson set up the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation in April 2015 to drive development around the Crossrail and HS2 station, which are set to open in 2026.
Meanwhile, in one of his first planning decisions, Khan refused permission for a new home for Cray Wanderers Football Club, alongside community sports pitches and two blocks of 28 flats.
The three-storey stadium had been granted permission by Bromley Council.
However, the mayor said that the plans would cause
significant harm to an area of open green space and included no affordable housing.
Khan also criticised Johnson’s “concordat” with developers, which was meant to ensure schemes were not marketed overseas first, describing it as “toothless”.
He criticised the fact that homes could be launched overseas at the same time as in the UK, and that there was no official Greater London Authority monitoring process, nor powers to enforce the marketing activities of signatories.
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