Looking for Sadiq in Cannes

MIPIM 2018: As political leaders from around the world descend on Cannes today to meet with property investors and developers, one British figure will be notable by his absence. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has again chosen not to attend MIPIM, instead delegating the Greater London Authority representation to his deputy mayors for housing and planning, James Murray and Jules Pipe.

Khan is busy promoting London’s digital economy at the film, media and music conference South by Southwest in Texas in the US. Building closer tech and creative business collaboration between the US and London and campaigning against hate speech are understandable priorities. However, there is a growing dissatisfaction in the property sector with the mayor’s continued lack of direct engagement.

Why should Khan attend MIPIM?

Christopher Hayward, planning and transportation committee chairman for the City of London Corporation, which is in Cannes this week to campaign for the City’s continued dominance as a global financial centre, said: “Of preference, I would prefer to see the mayor there. If nothing else, symbolically, it demonstrates an onsite presence or endorsement, really. But he didn’t come last year, he has never come since he’s been mayor of London. It’s his policy not to do so.”

Of the circa 25,000 delegates attending MIPIM, some 953 have registered as politicians for city or metropolitan areas, with the aim of attracting inward investment to their regions. Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Frankfurt Peter Feldmann and mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala are all registered to attend.

Former mayor of London Boris Johnson was a regular MIPIM attendee during his eight-year mayoralty. A planning adviser who recalls Johnson’s arrival on the Croisette, said: “He used to create quite a buzz. It’s all about confidence and a message that London is open for business. He didn’t need to do anything else, he just needed to talk about that.”

Adam Challis, head of UK residential research at JLL, said: “The mayor has a role to provide developers and housebuilders with confidence that he understands their needs, regardless of public messaging. In the context of Brexit, this is more important than ever.”

Homes for Londoners

Khan’s main engagement with the property industry is through the Homes for Londoners board, which he chairs quarterly with the aim of making sure the right policies and funding are in place to support developers, housing associations and councils.

Gerald Eve chairman Hugh Bullock and former British Property Federation chief executive Liz Peace make up the private sector representation on the 11-strong board. Property events and meetings are left to Murray and Pipe. Khan’s hospitality register shows he has attended only one industry-hosted event or meeting since becoming mayor – Canary Wharf Group’s inaugural Brexit expert advisory panel lunch in February 2017.

The mayor’s management structure differs from Johnson’s reign, when Sir Edward Lister served as the mayor’s chief of staff and deputy mayor of policy and planning. In his role, Lister was seen as a figure the industry could seek advice from about what would be acceptable to the mayor before committing to costly planning risk.

During Khan’s mayoralty planning consents have started to fall and refusals are on the up, with more than a quarter of all schemes refused in Q4 2017, according to EG Data (see graph below). At the same time, the GLA, through the draft London Plan, is proposing to increase the housebuilding target to 65,000 homes pa, roughly double the current rate.

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: “Despite challenges in the housing market overall, we remain on course to start at least 12,500 affordable homes by the end of the financial year. This will mean more starts of affordable homes this year – including more than a thousand based on social rent levels, for the first time in almost two years – than in any since City Hall took control of funding.”

Direct engagement

The industry is calling for greater direct engagement, now that representations to the draft London Plan have been submitted and the government has issued its draft revised National Planning Policy Framework.

Ian Fletcher, policy director at the British Property Federation, said: “Although we are supportive of the mayor and believe his [London] plan is excellent in many respects and goes much further than any before, we have growing concerns that on some key aspects there is little evidence to support its policy aspirations.”

The BPF said it would like to work with the mayor to set a “realistic” affordable housing commitment for build-to-rent developments, which according to the new draft London Plan will be given the same 35% affordable threshold as private developments. “Setting the wrong threshold may be good politics, but it is not good policy making,” Fletcher said.

Simon Ricketts, of Town Legal, said: “It would be really helpful if the mayor spent some time discussing in detail, with all those involved with development issues, not just the developers, some of the challenges arising from the draft London Plan and for him to communicate his priorities more directly. He has strong deputies in Jules Pipe and James Murray but they are no substitute for direct engagement.”

Positive results

One area where the mayor is seen to have engaged more directly is in promoting the release of smaller sites and supporting SME housebuilders. His 35% affordable fast-track planning route for developers has also helped boost affordable housing delivery within new consented schemes, according to EG Data.

James Stevens, director for cities at the Home Builders Federation, said: “The major’s office is engaging constructively on a range of issues with the industry, including on the developing London Plan, affordable housing provision, planning, provision of homes for Londoners and build quality. While there are inevitably tensions on certain issues, we welcome his engagement and commitment to build on the significant increases in supply we are now seeing in London.”

Barry Mortimer, London director at the Federation of Master Builders, who has never been able to secure a meeting with the mayor, said delegation was inevitable. “In his leadership position, you are not going to have section 106 agreements with everyone,” he said.

“Sadiq is committed to doing everything in his power to tackle London’s housing crisis,” said a mayor of London spokesman. “Both his deputy mayor for housing and deputy mayor for planning will attend the conference, where they will engage directly with developers about delivering more of the genuinely affordable housing Londoners need.”

EG asked Khan in February 2016, when he was a Tooting MP on the mayoral campaign trail, if he would attend MIPIM. He said: “When I am elected mayor of London, I will have lots of really important things to do and I promise one of the first things my diary manager will do is see whether I can attend that very conference.” He has two more years’ of his mayoral term to squeeze it in.