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Ken broke affordable homes rule over towers
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor03.04.08
Ken Livingstone was accused of "rank hypocrisy" over his cheap homes policy today after it emerged he had personally agreed to a huge residential development.
Despite the Mayor's own target that 50 per cent of new homes in London should be "affordable", not one of the 800 flats in Victoria was earmarked as low-cost.
The Evening Standard has discovered he stood to get £200 million from developers for his transport budget if he approved two 40-storey towers. City Hall documents show his planners backed the proposal for the blocks, partly because developers Land Securities were offering huge sums to be spent on upgrading Victoria Tube station.
The Mayor is also facing claims he misled Londoners after he declared this week he had "no idea" why the Victoria plan lacked cheap housing. He stated "it's not a scheme that's come to me".
But Standard reporters have discovered he personally approved the scheme last November after GLA's planners gave it the green light.
In a letter to Westminster City Council, the GLA's head of planning Giles Dolphin stated: "The Mayor has concluded that the principle of the redevelopment is acceptable."
The GLA makes clear City Hall decided the lack of affordable housing was compensated for by the funding for Transport for London. "None of these units will be affordable," it states.
"The proposal does include £111.7 million towards transport infrastructure works (£217.9million after on-costs such as fees, contingencies-cost inflation and finance are added), which the applicant argues off-sets the requirement for affordable housing. These works cannot currently be funded via public sector means. It is therefore accepted that additional monies created by the development are targeted for transport purposes."
Tory-run Westminster opposed the proposals because they lacked affordable housing. It was also unconvinced by the Tube upgrade.
As well as breaching the Mayor's "affordable homes" rules, the flats would breach his guidelines on the proportion of family homes and density - and affect views of Buckingham Palace and St Paul's.
However, City Hall planners considered the blocks "beautiful additions" to London's skyline. The GLA also backed the idea of demolishing Victoria bus station - partly because bendy buses "have operational difficulties" there.
In a key plank of his election bid, Mr Livingstone this week accused Tories of "betraying" families.
But his Tory rival Boris Johnson said the Victoria scandal showed the Mayor had been caught red handed and blew a hole in his claims to be on the side of the poor. He said: "It's utter and rank hypocrisy and an absolute travesty of the truth."
Angela Harvey, Westminster's Cabinet member for housing, said: "The GLA report on the Victoria development makes it absolutely clear the Mayor decided in favour of luxury flats instead of affordable housing he says he wants.
"Unlike Ken, we want affordable homes for over 300 local families."
The Mayor's office did not respond. Mr Livingstone said his target was for London as a whole.
Reader views (7)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
How typical of Ken to be economical with the truth so that the planning application for tower blocks goes through. I bet he doesn't have to live in the shadow of the high rise Tower blocks.
In Walthamstow despite the fact that this is a suburban area largely made up of Victorian terrace houses Ken is forcing plans through for tower blocks on any available site. My local streets, a quiet residential area, are faced with 400+ properties being build in a serried row of high rises culminating in one of 22 storeys on a site of only 1.4 hectares.
He is overstayed his time at City Hall and needs to go.
- Helen, London E17
Ken lied? It's like reporting the sun came up this morning.
- Rm, London, UK
Given Westminster's history of selling off council-owned homes to (hopefully) Conservative voters, their concern about the lack of affordable homes rings more than a bit hollow.
- Tonyb, Twickenham
ken should be in The Apprentice...
- Joe C, London
Shock, horror, Ken's looks to be corrupt, who'd have thought it? That halo floating over his head had me fooled.
- Ken Yastickit, London
On the basis of this article alone Ken Livingstone should resign immediately!
- Fraser, Telford Park
Lies, lies, and even more lies keep spewing from Kenny.
You can tell when Ken lies, his lips move.
- Neal Grinsell, London
