It is not only new homes and corporate profits that are at stake when development projects go sour, but political careers too.
Claire Kober, former leader of London’s Haringey council, discovered this to her cost this month as she fell victim to political controversy over regeneration plans.
Such upheavals are powered by growing public anger over developers building high-end homes in cities desperately in need of affordable housing.
The phenomenon is not confined to London but occurs in cities from San Francisco to Dublin.
