Listen: Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has called for a renaissance in the way government approaches development and announced Labour is setting up a working group on site development.
“We are desperate for ideas, we are desperate for harnessing the creativity of our population, of our communities,” he said at U+I’s Building Great Places – The view from the Left event at the developer’s new HQ at Howick Place, SW1.
Asking for developers to contact him to get involved with the working group, McDonnell said there was “opportunity for the Labour Party to start listening again and engaging in a more thorough way than ever before”.
McDonnell said part of his own constituency, Hayes and Harlington in Middlesex, was turning into a “shanty town”, with around 200 homeless families, representing a housing crisis not seen for generations.
He advocated a review of local government funding, which has been cut despite councils being given more responsibilities. He also called for the introduction of a land value tax, subject to support from developers. Every new building should be sustainable in the long term, he added.
