Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has directed Westminster City Council to refuse planning consent for the proposed extension of the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, SW1, citing a lack of affordable housing.
Maybourne Hotel Group owns and operates the hotel, as well as Claridge’s and the Connaught.
Constellation Hotels is an arm of Qatar Holding, which owns the holding company for Maybourne.
The council granted consent in March for the partial demolition and redevelopment of the hotel to provide an additional 59 hotel rooms, 13 homes and 5,300 sq ft of retail.
However, writing in his stage two referral report this week, Khan said the “the proposed development would fail to provide affordable housing, which would have a detrimental impact on the provision of much-needed affordable housing stock within the City of Westminster and London.
“The applicant has not demonstrated that it would be unviable to provide affordable housing, or make a contribution towards off-site delivery. Review mechanisms, essential to ensure that scheme viability is reassessed over the course of the development, have not been secured. I therefore direct you to refuse planning permission.”
Constellation Hotels approached investors last year about a potential £750m sale of the hotel. However, the sales process did not progress.
Westminster council has pledged to crackdown on new developments that don’t provide affordable housing.
Conservative council leader Nickie Aiken said at the beginning of her tenure in 2017 that she would “get a grip” on affordable housing.
Speaking at the opening of the London Real Estate Forum in Berkeley Square last year, Aiken said the borough would no longer “simply sell its golden postcodes to the highest bidder” and should instead focus on affordable homes.
She added: “The political weather has recently changed for everyone, including local authorities and the business community. People have sent a very clear message that they are receptive to a fresh vision of opportunity and equality.
“I do not want to preside over a borough where the housing market is polarised between multimillion pound properties for oligarchs and council-run estates with not much in between.”
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