Brandon Lewis, one of Eric Pickle's protégés, has just handed the Abu Dhabi Investment Council £8.9m in a move that the director of planning at the Conservative-controlled authority the City of Westminster, John Walker, described as “insane”.
Questions must be asked about this policy. Is "insane" the only description that can be used or should we be looking for other motives?
The policy is the decision to scrap the requirement for developers and speculators to make a contribution to Social Housing (housing that some ordinary people can afford). This has been pushed through even though the departments own estimates (probably on the low side) estimate that £1.9b worth of "affordable" housing will be lost nationwide, all to line the pocket of the "Spivs and Speculators" (to use Vince Cables words).
Among the first beneficiaries of the policy were the developers of a block of luxury Mayfair apartments, including 5,000 sq ft units with cinemas and billiard rooms. The scheme, 20 Grosvenor Square, is backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, and the developers had agreed to donate £17.9m to affordable housing as part of the planning deal, but Lewis’s policy allowed that to be slashed by £9m.
Councils estimated that Lewis’s policy could boost property companies’ profits by hundreds of millions of pounds, while the City of Westminster said it stood to lose £1bn in affordable housing contributions.
Developers condemn housing policy that risks wrecking social mix in London
Questions must be asked about this policy. Is "insane" the only description that can be used or should we be looking for other motives?
The policy is the decision to scrap the requirement for developers and speculators to make a contribution to Social Housing (housing that some ordinary people can afford). This has been pushed through even though the departments own estimates (probably on the low side) estimate that £1.9b worth of "affordable" housing will be lost nationwide, all to line the pocket of the "Spivs and Speculators" (to use Vince Cables words).
Among the first beneficiaries of the policy were the developers of a block of luxury Mayfair apartments, including 5,000 sq ft units with cinemas and billiard rooms. The scheme, 20 Grosvenor Square, is backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, and the developers had agreed to donate £17.9m to affordable housing as part of the planning deal, but Lewis’s policy allowed that to be slashed by £9m.
Councils estimated that Lewis’s policy could boost property companies’ profits by hundreds of millions of pounds, while the City of Westminster said it stood to lose £1bn in affordable housing contributions.
Developers condemn housing policy that risks wrecking social mix in London
