Sadiq Khan’s housebuilding flop: Rishi Sunak slams mayor for ‘failing to deliver the homes London needs’ as PM steps in to bypass City Hall on developments and outlines ‘Docklands 2.0’ plan
- PM announces he is ‘stepping in’ to boost housebuilding in the capital
Rishi Sunak today lashed out at Sadiq Khan for having ‘failed to deliver the homes London needs’ as he unveiled plans to bypass the Labour mayor on new developments.
The Prime Minister announced he was ‘stepping in’ to boost housebuilding in the capital and ‘make home ownership a reality again for Londoners’.
Downing Street said Mr Sunak’s proposals would deliver more homes, including affordable housing, on brownfield land in the heart of the capital.
The plans include a direct allocation of £150million for housebuilding in London boroughs, which will bypass City Hall, to prepare brownfield land and support new roads and green spaces.
There will also be £53million for the Old Oak West project in west London, where 9,000 homes are planned near the site of a new HS2 station.
Rules on the use of a £1billion fund for affordable housing will be relaxed so it can be used to regenerate old social housing estates, while ministers will review Mr Khan’s ‘London Plan’ for new homes.
The Government will also support ‘Docklands 2.0’ – a proposal for an eastward extension of the London Docklands development with the potential to create up to 65,000 homes across sites including Thamesmead, Beckton and Silvertown.
Mr Khan hit back at the PM’s criticism of his housebuilding record as London mayor.
He noted how Mr Sunak last year crumbled to a Tory rebellion to ditch mandatory national housebuilding targets.
‘This is desperate nonsense,’ the London mayor said.
Rishi Sunak lashed out at Sadiq Khan for having ‘failed to deliver the homes London needs’ as he unveiled plans to bypass the Labour mayor on new developments.
The Prime Minister announced he was ‘stepping in’ to boost housebuilding in the capital and ‘make home ownership a reality again for Londoners’.
But Mr Khan hit back at Mr Sunak’s criticism of his housebuilding record in his seven years as London mayor
Mr Khan noted how Mr Sunak last year crumbled to a Tory rebellion to ditch mandatory national housebuilding targets
It is estimated that a London home now costs £526,000 on average, which is 14.4 times typical earnings.
The average first-time buyer home costs £425,000 in London and the average deposit is now £144,500.
Earlier this week, Mr Sunak hit out at ‘top-down targets’ for housebuilding, but in recent days his Government has also set out a range of reforms and proposals intended to boost the number of new homes being built in England.
The PM said: ‘Labour’s Sadiq Khan has failed to deliver the homes London needs, driving up prices and making it harder for families to get on the housing ladder.
‘So I’m stepping in to boost housebuilding and make home ownership a reality again for Londoners.’
Responding on Twitter, Mr Khan hit back: ‘Are you the same guy who dropped his house building targets?
‘Because I’m the guy who started building more council homes than the rest of England combined, exceeded your affordable homes targets and built more homes of any kind than since the 1930s.
‘This is desperate nonsense.’
Mr Sunak today visited to a housing development in Hayes, west London, where he met residents and developers.
The PM told broadcasters he wanted ‘everyone to be able to own their own home’, but that it would mean ‘building homes in the right places and not concreting over the countryside’.
As part of the measures announced, Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove will work with the London mayor and City Hall to look at opportunities to accelerate housing development on brownfield industrial sites.
No10 warned, if progress was not made by the Autumn, Mr Gove could make direct changes to London’s housing plan to increase the delivery of new homes.
He will focus his review on addressing issues such as single-story warehouses being prioritised over new homes on central London sites within a few minutes of Tube stations.
Mr Gove said: ‘I want to use the regeneration of the Docklands as an inspiration for more regeneration across the capital, a Docklands 2.0, transforming more unwanted and underused land into beautiful and thriving neighbourhoods.
‘Our vision will only work if we make use of all the tools at our disposal to deliver homes in the capital.
‘That is why I will continue to closely monitor the Greater London Authority to ensure it is delivering the housing London so desperately needs and I will not hesitate to intervene further if needed.’
A spokesperson for Mr Khan said: ‘These disappointing and disingenuous claims appear to show a fundamental lack of understanding of housebuilding in London.
‘The mayor delivered record numbers of affordable homes over the last six years, consistently exceeding Government targets despite the impact of the pandemic and Brexit. This has included starting more council homes than at any time since the 1970s.
‘The mayor’s London Plan was approved by the Government in 2021 and the ministers should know that the housing figures included within it are reliant on sufficient Government investment being made in infrastructure, particularly transport.’
Mr Khan in May hailed his record on housing delivery, as he pointed to progress in surpassing the target of starting 116,000 affordable homes in London between 2015 and 2023.
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