Research from the London mayor’s own office has pulled the rug out from under Ken Livingstone’s plans to build half a million homes in the capital by 2016.
Official figures from Livingstone’s office show that while the London Plan calls for at least 460,000 homes by 2016, there is only room for 110,000.
Livingstone’s team has drawn up what it calls a “nearly comprehensive list” of 95 strategic sites in London that can accommodate over 200 homes. The list totals 108,200 units.
This refutes Livingstone’s draft London Plan, which states that most residential development in London over the next 15 years will be on these sites.
The mayor’s housing adviser Neale Coleman said that the rest would have to be on smaller sites.
But Conservative Greater London Assembly Member Bob Neill said that the statistics showed “the fragility of the plan”.
He added: “The strategic sites don’t even come close to meeting the need. But to claim that the additional housing can be built on the smaller sites is absurd.
“The only figures the mayor has for smaller sites date back to 1997. Sixty percent of the sites have already been developed.”
To hit the target, more than 30,000 homes a year must be built. Livingstone has set a parallel target of 19,000 new homes each year and 4,000 empty homes to be brought back into use, with plans to increase the target in 2006.
EGi News 25/10/02
