Members of the Greater London Assembly’s Spatial Development Strategy investigative committee are complaining that they have been offered no alternatives to Towards the London Plan, a document launched this month by London mayor Ken Livingstone.
The Plan presents a blueprint for sustainable development in a city with a population that is expected to rise to 8.1m within 15 years.
On Thursday, GLA Conservative group leader Bob Neill, who chairs the committee, claimed that the mayor had created a document that was built on assumptions rather than on actual research. “What we want to do is test the fundamental assumptions of population and economic growth towards the London Plan. And they are very bullish assumptions,” said Neill.
Committee members also said that they had not seen any evidence to support the population and economic projections contained in the document. Tony Arbour, Conservative member for the GLA’s South West constituency, said: “You can’t build your proposals on things that are wrong.”
The London Mayor’s team rejects claims that the projections are wrong, or that the plans would fail if London did not grow according to the forecasts. However, they admit that their evidence for the validity of the projections has not been published.
Bob Neill also accused the Mayor of foisting his plan for London on the assembly. “If this is a consultation document, why does it close off any options bar one?” he said.
Nicky Gavron, the Mayor’s deputy in charge of the Spatial Development Strategy, was adamant that it was a consultation document, but said that it was necessary for the Mayor to provide “a strong steer” to achieve the demands set out by the Government in Circular 1/2000 and RPG3.
Dismissing calls for an alternative plan, Livingstone said: “I’m perfectly happy with this plan. Broadly, I don’t see an alternative to it& not that I’m quoting Mrs Thatcher.”
He said that it represented the rejection of the “post-war consensus” that cities are bad. “We can either create a monstrous city, like something out of Bladerunner, or we can create an attractive city with the sort of buzz that keeps people coming.”
EGi News 01/06/01
