Last week the Royal Institute of British Architects hosted an event which placed major players from the fields of architecture, engineering, surveying and planning in a room to hear mayoral candidates present their visions on the future of London’s built environment. Tellingly, both frontrunners Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan were absent, allegedly to distance themselves from the RIBA’s public opposition to the highly contested Garden Bridge development. The evening served as a reminder that while arbitrary figures on housebuilding targets can easily be fired across a lecture hall, the complications of taking action on London’s endemic affordability issue while reassuring the various vested interests of the construction industry that London’s status as a global powerhouse will remain intact became all too clear. In a mayoral race which now looks set to be determined by Zac Goldsmith’s decision to jump aboard the ‘Out’ campaign in Britain’s upcoming EU referendum, it is easy to see how the matter of housing could be pushed to the sidelines.
Candidates and their representatives skimmed over unsurmountable issues of infrastructure, tall buildings, apprenticeships and were predictably unanimous in their opposition to developing the greenbelt. What seems a crucial, as yet unclear, difference between the parties is their position on the powers of the GLA within a backdrop of local boroughs being outmuscled in determining the fate of particularly contentious developments. Boris Johnson’s reign as Mayor of London will be characterised in its built form by a period of relentless vertical development fuelled by the all important attraction of international capital. The 260 proposed towers in the pipeline for the banks of the Thames may prove to serve as relics of Boris’ term. Zac Goldsmith’s campaign, at least on the basis of last weeks hustings, will be packaged up and presented as a continuation of the ‘good work’ done by Boris in advancing London’s global reputation as it continues to grow. That said, what was also telling about the event was how drastically different the political landscape is in the capital as opposed to elsewhere in the UK. Very generally, London is the most pro-EU, pro-immigration part of the country and, crucially, while the majority of the UK consider rising house prices to be an undoubtedly good thing, for the millions of those in London unable to buy their own property, this is not necessarily the case. The candidates reflect this growing social divergence of London from the rest of the country by representing policies which do not present them as direct disciples of their party leadership. This is most evident in the campaign of bookies’ favourite Sadiq Khan, who will look to isolate himself from any accusations from the opposition of being ‘Corbyn’s man in London.’
As Britain slides into uncertainty over Europe, London remains detached, with its own unique challenges and opportunities, none more urgent than that of housing. Whether the incoming Mayor chooses to pursue a policy of higher density, suburban enhancement through infrastructure or the forced extinction and redevelopment of London’s council housing remains to be seen.
A summarised version of the candidates’ policies on housing:
Sadiq Khan (Lab)
- Target of 50% for all new homes to be affordable
- Committed to stopping Buy to Leave and the selling of homes offplan to overseas investors
- Amendment to Housing Bill – ringfencing money generated from sell off of council homes to reinvest into housing within the same borough
- London Living Rent – A new form of affordable housing rent linked to one-third of the average local incomes rather than market prices
- Establishing a non-profit lettings agency
- Local boroughs consulted on landlord licensing schemes to name and shame rogue landlords and promoting good ones
Zac Goldsmith (Cons)
- Claims housing is ‘number one priority’
- 50,000 homes built a year by 2020
- Amendment to Housing Bill for London – claiming two affordable properties will be built for every one sold off from housing associations
- Defends government’s continuation of the Right to Buy for residents of council and housing association homes
- Londoner’s First rule promises any homes built on Mayoral land will only be available to Londoners
- Gives green light to Crossrail 2
- Support of govt’s London Help to Buy – 40% interest-free loan to first-time buyers
Sian Berry (Greens)
- Proposes setting up a Community Homes Unit in City Hall to promote smaller scale developments including co-operatives, self-build projects etc.
- Will seek to restrict developments catered for the Buy to Leave market and those with particularly low percentages of affordable housing – namely the Earls Court development and Canaletto tower on City Road
- Limiting car spaces in London and using this land for housing
- Close London City Airport and redevelop it into a new housing district
- Supports maximising existing housing stock as examined in Darren Johnson’s report Where can we build more homes?
- Against demolishing existing housing estates in London
- Proposes creating a London Renter’s Union to help London’s 2.3 million private renters to control rents.
Caroline Pidgeon (LD)
- Promising 200,000 new homes over the next 4 years, including market sale, intermediate rent and Rent to Buy – currently unclear how this will be delivered, potentially depending on the availability of public sector land
- 50,000 of these to be built by a new house building company directly owned by the GLA
- Highly supportive of apprenticeships through GLA funded academy
- Establish skyline commission to advise on tall buildings
The Speculation Game 