LDN Weekly – Issue 83 – 26 June 2019
WHAT BOJO GETS UP TO IN HIS SPARE TIME
It's been one of those weeks where everything seems to be happening all at once. A flurry of activity in City Hall has been matched by furious electioneering and a great deal of news from the wider planning and development sector.
No Images? Click here WHAT BOJO GETS UP TO IN HIS SPARE TIMEIt’s been one of those weeks where everything seems to be happening all at once. A flurry of activity in City Hall has been matched by furious electioneering and a great deal of news from the wider planning and development sector.Sadiq is taking one step forward and two steps back, but is evidently keen to maintain his profile in the lead-up to the 2020 Mayoral and London Assembly Elections. Meanwhile, Labour is busy selecting London Assembly candidates, as well as confirming its line-up for a potential snap election. Elsewhere, a series of appointments, suspensions and by-elections are making things even more interesting. And London’s boroughs, are continuing to do their damnedest, against all odds, to keep things buzzing along. Meanwhile, Boris has stated, very convincingly, that he relaxes by making models of buses out of old wooden wine crates. If you don’t already, do follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Also, feel free to visit our website for more information on LCA’s team, services, and clients. KHAN HANGS ONSadiq has had a busy week, including a public hearing on the Kensington Forum (more below), the announcement of ‘London’s biggest ever Car Free Day celebration’ to take place in September and a London summit of 12 European capitals’ Mayors, which took place only yesterday. But these activities have arguably been largely overshadowed by his struggle to deliver on manifesto pledges and other commitments across transport, housing and especially crime.
KENSINGTON FORUM CHECKS OUTThe Mayor has approved Rockwell and Queensgate Investments’ application for their Kensington Forum development, centred on a hospitality complex comprising a 749-room hotel, 340 serviced apartments and various other facilities, as well as 62 flats, all for London Affordable Rent. The development foresees a part 30, part 22 and part seven storey building. The scheme had been rejected by the Conservative-led Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, mainly on the grounds of height and massing. Many local people and residents’ associations had expressed their opposition, reportedly submitting almost 800 objections with a few choice words about the proposed building’s design. Labour MP for North Kensington Emma Dent Coad also opposed the plans, arguing that their affordable housing offer does not override other local concerns. At the brief public hearing chaired by Sadiq last Friday, the Mayor gave short shrift to all these complaints, asserting that the borough can ill-afford to reject the affordable homes offered by the scheme. It should be noted that the applicants significantly upped their residential offer after their project was called in by the Mayor, from 46 homes (of which 43% would be affordable) in the initial application rejected by Kensington & Chelsea, to the present 62 homes (100% affordable). It now remains to be seen whether the Mayor’s decision will stand, or whether the Communities Secretary will step in. ROTHERHITHE BRIDGE FADES AWAYDeputy Mayor for Transport Heidi Alexander announced on 21 June that plans for a new bridge across the Thames connecting Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf have been ‘paused’ due to funding constraints. In a letter to Florence Eshalomi, Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, Alexander pointed to the project’s unaffordability, ‘particularly in the context of TfL’s wider challenges’, and suggested that TfL will now commence work on the ‘more affordable’ alternative of a ferry. The Labour Leader of Southwark Council Peter John called the news ‘terrible’, and co-signed a letter alongside his Cabinet Member for Growth, Development and Planning Johnson Situ, Labour AM Florence Eshalomi, and local Labour MP Neil Coyle, calling on the GLA to ‘reconsider’ the decision. City Hall’s move is particularly significant given that Sadiq’s 2016 manifesto included ‘backing the Rotherhithe-Canary Wharf cycle and pedestrian bridge’. Even more so as City Hall continues to press on with work on the Silvertown Tunnel, which was not mentioned in Khan’s manifesto and which is being strenuously opposed by the Assembly Greens and Liberal Democrats, as well as campaigners – who all argue that it will encourage car use and lead to higher emissions, and could therefore be at odds with the Mayor’s ‘Healthy Streets’ and ‘Climate Emergency’ agendas. LONDON LABOUR CANDIDATE SELECTIONSIn the last week, all of the incumbent Labour London Assembly members representing geographic ‘super-constituencies’ have been re-selected to fight for their seats at the 2020 London Assembly elections. However, the party has yet to select the rest of its candidates (including those running in seats held by the opposition, those replacing the five incumbents who have announced they are stepping down and those for its list of ‘top up’ candidates). The tally is currently as follows:
Meanwhile, the Tory leadership race has triggered national Labour Party preparations for a potential snap General Election. The Party has asked all sitting Labour MPs to decide, by 8 July, whether they wish to stand again for parliament, prompting MP for Poplar & Limehouse Jim Fitzpatrick to announce that he will not seek to stand for re-election. BOROUGH BY-ELECTIONS
PEOPLE MOVES
LONDON POORRecently-published research illustrates how many Londoners suffer from poverty and deprivation, despite the wealth created in our great city. The Guardian has highlighted the latest Annual Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) report commissioned by the Greater London Authority (GLA) and managed by the St Mungo’s charity. The report’s disturbing headline finding was that a total of 8,855 people were seen rough sleeping in London during 2018/19, an 18% increase compared to the total of 7,484 recorded in the 2017/18 CHAIN report. Separately, OnLondon has featured the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ latest report on Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK. Despite being an engine of growth, London still ranks worse than the rest of the UK across all measures of poverty, defined in terms of income, expenditure and the ability to afford basic items. Indeed, London’s ‘headline poverty’ rate in is 31% higher than elsewhere in the country. Furthermore, the rates of more severe measures such as ‘income’ and ‘expenditure poverty’, as well as ‘material deprivation’, are even worse – at 37–47% higher than in the rest of the country. It is local authorities – alongside NHS trusts, schools, the emergency services and charities – which represent the first port of call for individuals and families facing destitution. Successive rounds of funding cuts have seen the core funding received by London’s boroughs reduced by 63% over the past decade, as estimated by London Councils. PRICEY PRE-APPLICATION FEES?All of the above may in turn help explain the findings of Planning Resource’s recent survey [£] of pre-application advice fees levied on developers by many councils. The journal found ‘huge variations across England’ and indicates that average charges for every single residential and non-residential application type in London are significantly higher than those for any other English region. Individual London councils also dominate the ‘top 10’ lists of highest minimum charges for every single category. Developers may read these findings and frown, but the sad reality is that councils face a Catch-22: while they can ill-afford to overtax housebuilders, they must somehow prop up their faltering finances. More Government funding and greater fiscal devolution may or may not be forthcoming; council tax and business rates are everywhere inching upwards, but hiking these is fraught with complications; selling or otherwise exploiting council assets is often political dynamite. It is, alas, developers who are being called upon to pick up the slack. WINNING HEARTS AND MINDSThe past week has seen a number of infrastructure announcements:
THE TOWN PARISH THAT NEVER WAS?A majority of local residents participating in Tower Hamlets' formal consultation on proposals for a Spitalfields and Banglatown Parish Council have stated their opposition to the plans. According to Council documents, of the 2,187 valid consultation responses received, only 27% of people were in favour of a new parish council, but 71% were against (and 1.8% did not express an opinion). While a final decision by the borough will be made on 17 July, it appears increasingly unlikely that the proposals will be implemented. The campaign to create the Parish Council was spearheaded by the Spitalfields Society and the Spitalfields Community Group, with proponents seeking more powers for the local community over areas such as public spaces, litter control and local events. However, the plans also had their critics, including Labour Councillor for Weavers Ward John Pierce and Labour AM Unmesh Desai, who as reported in previous editions of LDN have argued that the initiative is ‘insular’ and ‘elitist’ and would only benefit the neighbourhood’s wealthier quarters. If approved, the plans would have heralded the arrival of London’s second Parish Council in eight decades, the first and only one founded in that time currently being Queen’s Park Community Council in Westminster, created in 2014.
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