Livingstone vows to stamp down on renegade London boroughs

15:00 15 Mar 2006

London Mayor Ken Livingstone is determined to ensure that local authorities will no longer be allowed to hold up planning applications that are in compliance with the planning regulations.
 
Speaking at the annual Mipim property conference in Cannes yesterday, Livingstone revealed that there had been a recent "surge" in planning rejections among London borough councils, citing Lambeth as one of the worst examples, where some 44% of applications were rejected last year.
 
"There is a proposed scheme at Clapham Park in Lambeth, which we think would go a long way towards regenerating that area, but it's being held up because the council is afraid about the noise and disruption to local neighbourhoods," he said. "But honestly, do people really come to London expecting the stillness and calm of the Cairngorms?"
 
Livingstone said that many smaller builders and developers ended up walking away from schemes rather than go through the planning process again.
 
Referring to the current planning review, he said: "Now is the best time we will have in a generation to improve the present planning system, and I urge builders and developers to beat a path to David Milliband's door, telling him exactly what needs to change."
 
Livingstone added that the GLA would be proposing to the review a new system of appeal for London planning decisions, whereby applications that are in compliance of planning regulations can be overturned by his office inside six weeks.
 
Switching tack, he warned the construction industry to be ready for increasing building costs as the GLA aims to make new buildings more energy efficient.
 
"As we strive to improve the sustainability of construction, there will be extra costs - although these will come down with time through economies of scale and as contractors get used to new ways of building," he told delegates at the annual Mipim property conference in Cannes.
 
Livingstone cited a new housing development in Brixton where the construction costs were 10% higher than usual, but said "the average bill for all energy in each flat is projected to be just £40 a year".
 
Livingstone added environmental considerations would to be to the forefront of any future developments in London. "Climate change has come from nowhere to be the third most important concern among Londoners," he said.
  • Livingstone said that funding for the Crossrail scheme should be in place in 18 months' time. "No final government decision on the funding will be taken until after the review into local government funding," he said. "But now that Bechtel are on board, we're starting to see some progress on getting the budget down to the £5.7bn target."
 
 
 


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