Khan’s first Mayor’s Question Time

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Sadiq Khan appeared before the London Assembly for the first time this morning at Mayor’s Question Time.

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• 12.34pm: Finally, on green spaces, Khan said he would consider strengthening protection of the green belt and green spaces in the London Plan.

Assembly member Nicky Gavron asked if he would flag up in his London Plan the very special circumstances under which you are allowed to build on green belt land.

He said he was going to think about planning and design and would get back to her on whether he could do that.

• 12.09pm: Estate regeneration is the last housing topic on today’s agenda.

Assembly member David Kurten asked Khan how he would prevent existing tenants at the South Acton Estate – currently being development as a joint venture between L&Q and Countrywide – from being forced to move outside London?

Khan said: “As I set out in my manifesto, I will require that estate regeneration will only take place where there is residents’ consent.”

However, he said there was little he could do in this case. He said he would try to ensure a right to return for existing tenants.

He said he needed to be “cautious” about making promises before seeing how they can be implemented in the London Plan.

• 11.59am: Assembly member Caroline Russell urged the mayor to stop “wasteful” spending on river crossing applications.

Khan said he was committed to improving river crossings in east London.

The Silvertown Tunnel could transform river crossing in East London, he said. But he added that he is still reviewing the project as part of a six months river crossings review, including charging costs.

• 11.47am: Khan was asked by assembly member Navin Shah if he would alter the London Plan to include key worker housing provisions.

Khan said he wanted to make sure genuinely affordable housing for all businesses and essential workers who shouldn’t have to travel 1.5 hours to get to work.

NHS land should not just be sold to the highest bidder and overseas investors wanting “gold from bricks” but to build homes for London workers, he added.

• 11.33am: Labour Assembly member Tom Copley asked Khan: “How will you begin addressing the challenge of providing the homes Londoners desperately need?”

Khan said he intends to move quickly to get TfL to release surplus land and form alliance of developers, investors and boroughs to make sure they can get homes built.

He said Homes for Londoners could provide a new layer of municipal housing.

Deputy mayor James Murray is meeting with housing associations, councils and developers to discuss this, Khan said.

“Are you going to encourage overseas investment for productive London housing?” Copley asked.

Khan said there was no problem with that. “There are lots of people who want to invest in our great city and we should encourage that,” he said.

• 11.02am: On rent controls, Khan said he wants more councils to be able to have licensing powers.

“I want to work alongside boroughs to make sure we can have more licensing schemes in London.”

“We want all of London covered,” he said.

Currently boroughs have to apply to government if they want licensing powers. 

He said he would work with London boroughs to lobby government for additional powers if they want them. 

• 10.49am: Khan has reiterated his pledge to make 50% of new housing affordable.

He said: “I am confident this can be achieved without reducing housing supply.”

Crucial to this, he said, was freeing up public land and introducing a more rigorous approach to assessing development viability which he will set out in the coming months. 

He declined to set a target housebuilding number for each of the next four years. 

He said there was “no point” in building 50,000 homes a year if they are bought by overseas investors and left sitting empty, rather than occupied by Londoners. 

Pushed by Boff on whether he would meet the 80,000 homes a year target set by housing associations as detailed on his website and in his manifesto, Khan said he was more focused on making sure the right sorts of homes were built. 

• 10.43am: “There’s a positive case for staying in the EU,” Khan said.

He pointed out there was a risk of companies choosing to locate headquarters’ outside of London in the event of a Brexit, citing Sony, AIG Insurance and China Telecom as important assets for the City. 

• 10.40am: Conservative Assembly member Andrew Boff asked: “Will new homes whose rent is greater than the LLR count towards your 50% target?”

Khan did not directly answer the question. He said he had identified a range of affordable housing tenures. He said he wanted to speak to government about its starter homes policy. 

• 10.37am: Green LA member Sian Berry asked if the London Living Rent would also factor in living costs – not just earnings – when calculated.

Khan said no, it will only factor in earnings. 

• 10.35am: Khan has pledged to address the “gross unaffordability of London’s private rented sector” through his London Living Rent.

He said he is working with partners including housing associations on the details, which will be published in the “near future”.

He reiterated his pledge for new homes for social rent and said the previous administration failed to address measures in the Housing and Planning Act which “replaces proper affordable homes with homes costing up to £415,000”.

• 10.24am: Labour Assembly member Tom Copley has asked Khan if anonymous donors to the Garden Bridge have been awarded/are bidding for TfL contracts.

Khan said he would review the project before responding. 

• 10.18am: Sadiq Khan has pledged his support for the Garden Bridge project. 

He said £37.7m had already been spent by the Garden Trust on the bridge, including a £20m loan from TfL.  He said if the project continues, the £20m loan will be repaid as well as roughly £22m in VAT to government. 

This would mean the cost to the taxpayer would be £18m – rather than £37.7m if it was cancelled.

However, he has requested the bridge will be closed for fewer days each year for private fundraising events and will organise more trips for schoolchildren. 

 

• 10.15am: Khan has reiterated his thoughts on the state of London’s affordable housing crisis. 

He said: “The previous mayor left the cupboard bare when it comes to delivering affordable housing in the capital.”

His audit showed that last year the mayor of London Boris Johnson delivered just 4,880 affordable homes – the lowest recorded in history.

He said there was an “accute construction skills crisis” in London – with apprenticeship starts in London just 7% of UK average.

He said there was a flawed process of identifying public land for homes and he will fast-track scores of sites suitable for development. 

• 10am: Sadiq Khan has arrived for his first Question Time and took time to greet Assembly members before taking his seat. WP_20160525_10_01_14_Pro

Assembly chair Tony Arbour, opening the session said: “Our role is to be your critical friend.”

He added: “Mayor’s Question Time is not public entertainment as it had become during the last days of the last administration.

“We are discussing serious business here.”

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Assembly members at City Hall will ask Khan questions about:

London’s economy and the EU

Defining affordable rents

Affordable housing

Khan pledged in his manifesto that he would make 50% of all new housing affordable.

However, it is expected he could add some flexibility to this definition, making 50% an overall target for all new London housing, instead of specifying 50% affordable for each new development.

The mayor is expected to add more detail to his London Living Rent proposition. During his campaign he pledged to introduce the rent as a new form of affordable housing, with rent based on a third of average local income, not market rates.

Khan is against Brexit, and is expected to make a renewed case this morning for the importance of staying in the EU for the capital. 

• Click here for the agenda papers

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