Boris makes Sir Simon Milton new planning guru

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has appointed Sir Simon Milton, chairman of the Local Government Association, as his senior planning adviser.

Milton, a Conservative councillor, has also been Leader of Westminster City Council since May 2000.

He opposed the goverment's decision to give former Mayor Ken Livingstone greater planning powers, which let him override individual boroughs' plans.

And he was against levying local business to fund the £16bn Crossrail project.

Today Johnson welcomed Milton to the role, commenting that he had "a fantastic record of delivery in local government".