黑洞社区

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has floated an array of housing pledges in his bid to secure a second term at City Hall in next month鈥檚 mayoral election.

Khan said he would put a 鈥渞elentless focus鈥� on building more council housing and other genuinely affordable homes if he secures victory in the 6 May poll.

His targets the delivery of 10,000 new council homes in the capital and a gives a commitment to 鈥渆xplore the creation鈥� of a fund to support councils to re-purchase housing stock sold off under the Right to Buy scheme since the 1980s.

Khan said he would build more 鈥済enuinely affordable鈥� homes on public land and 鈥渕aximise the number鈥� of homes built on land owned by the Greater London Authority.

He said that if he secured a further term as mayor he would also give his housing and land directorate 鈥渇irst refusal鈥� on land owned by Transport for London that was suitable for housing development, above and beyond the transport authority鈥檚 current development programme.

Khan said the move was part of a plan to transfer more TfL land to the GLA to 鈥減rioritise the building of genuinely affordable homes while delivering a fair return to TfL鈥�.

Khan also pledged to commission an independent review to 鈥渟treamline housing development across the wider GLA group鈥� and pilot a new 鈥淐ity Hall developer鈥� to start directly building low-cost homes in the capital.

His manifesto also commits to exploring ways to support the expansion of offsite construction in the capital to deliver more modular housing, with the potential for City Hall to back a new MMC factory or logistics hub.

Khan said he would campaign for billions of pounds in additional central-government funding to support the construction of new homes.

鈥淚 have ripped up my Tory predecessor鈥檚 planning rules, which failed to deliver the kind of new homes the city needs,鈥� Khan said, referring to former mayor Boris Johnson 鈥� now prime minister.

鈥淢y new London Plan, which Tory ministers tried to block at every turn, has a strategic target for 50% of all new homes to be genuinely affordable.

鈥淓very development is expected to include at least 35% genuinely affordable housing. My approach is working: the proportion of new homes that are affordable in schemes I鈥檝e approved has risen to 37%. The Tories oppose this policy and will drop it if they get the chance, meaning fewer genuinely affordable homes being built.鈥�

Khan said he would continue lobbying for a ban on the use of combustible materials on all buildings, following 2017鈥檚 Grenfell Tower fire, as well as for the fitting of sprinklers and other fire-suppression systems in all blocks of flats.

However the mayor stated he was not opposed to high-rise development and would back proposals for taller residential and commercial buildings if their design was good enough.

鈥淗igh quality design standards will continue to be at the heart of planning and development, with the work of my mayor鈥檚 design advocates remaining crucial,鈥� he said.

鈥淚鈥檒l support tall buildings where they are safe, appropriately located and designed to a high quality with tough safety and environmental standards, but I won鈥檛 shy away from opposing those that don鈥檛 enhance London鈥檚 skyline, or which provide little social or economic benefit.鈥�

Khan鈥檚 manifesto also proposes the creation of a centre to accelerate 鈥渋nnovative and deep approaches鈥� to retrofit existing homes to meet the goal of making London carbon neutral by 2030.

鈥淚鈥檒l lobby the government for the funds London needs to retrofit millions of homes, ensuring a targeted approach for those residents who need warm, healthy houses the most,鈥� he said.

Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has pledged to build 100,000 affordable homes for Londoners and to sell them for 拢100,000 each under a shared-ownership model that would require a deposit of just 拢5,000 from first-time buyers.