MIPIM UK 2015: Increased density, more public and private land disposals and more powers for the mayor are all solutions to the London housing crisis, delegate heard at a debate today.
Gary Yardley, managing director and chief investment officer at Capital & Counties, said: “It’s far too easy to put London’s housing crisis in the ‘difficult’ box.
“We have got to address this issue about density. If we are not going to build on the green belt, then we must accept density is the way forward. And that means tall buildings.”
Meanwhile, Richard McCarthy, executive director at Capita, said more sites needed to be brought forward. However, he added: “It is not just about large sites. It’s about more sites. Large sites are only built out at a certain rate per annum.”
Meanwhile, Ben Rogers, executive director at Centre for London, said the key issue was the politics of housing supply.
“We broadly know what needs to happen. The key problem is the politics of it and a lot of what we know needs to happen is electorally quite difficult.”
Panelists agreed that more powers should be devolved to London, to help remedy the fact that national housing policy generally does not work in the capital.
However, McCarthy warned: “I think it’s quite possible he should have more powers, though I am slightly nervous the GLA thinks about sucking them up from the boroughs, rather than taking it down from central government.
“After that, he must make sure he is not just duplicating the powers he has got from someone else.”
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