Morning:
14°c
Boris Johnson has gone into battle with the American government over plans for a new embassy in London.
The Mayor says he is prepared to reject proposals for the £500million complex in Battersea if it breaches his planning vision for the capital and does not include a £2.5million contribution for Crossrail.
He has demanded a series of changes to the outline plans for the building - known as the Iceberg - with money for transport improvements at the top of his wish list.
City Hall is seeking contributions towards the £16billion Crossrail link from all major developers in central London as a condition of gaining the Mayor's approval.
The US wants to move from its site in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, because of security concerns. Though that building is heavily fortified, the US has been refused permission to close surrounding streets to stop the threat of a lorry bomb.
The new site would be protected by a 30-metre "blast zone" and a detachment of US marines. Security is so tight that only American-based architects are being allowed to design it.
However, Mr Johnson is effectively prepared to hold the American government to ransom to secure money to improve London's transport infrastructure and force through changes to the embassy's design.
He has concerns that the building, to be located between Chelsea and Vauxhall bridges, will "turn its back" on the Thames and be concealed behind a giant mound of earth. The Mayor wants the boundary wall to be "visually permeable" - allowing the 97 metre embassy to be seen from the road - not blocked by a four-metre concrete wall. Changes have also been demanded to ensure the building meets targets to reduce its carbon footprint. Unless they are made the proposals will breach the Mayor's planning guidelines - the London Plan - and face rejection.
A letter from planning officials to the embassy's developers says: "Further work is required before the proposed development can be considered acceptable in terms ... of the London Plan."
Mr Johnson, who was born in New York, is also under pressure to force the US to pay £3million in congestion charge fines before agreeing to the embassy. The US has refused to pay the charge since it was launched in 2003, claiming its diplomats were exempt.
Jenny Jones, the Green party chairwoman of the London Assembly's planning committee, said: "I completely support the Mayor on this. If the embassy is going to move to Battersea, they have to follow the London Plan.
"I think they have to make a contribution towards public transport, particularly with the fact that they have a huge outstanding congestion charge bill."
The US hopes to move to the 2.15-hectare site by 2016. Work transforming the area, which is occupied by industrial buildings and a car showroom, is to begin in 2013.
Draft plans have been submitted to Wandsworth council, which has welcomed the embassy because of the prestige it will add to the borough. The building would be used by 800 staff and attract 1,100 visitors a day. The Americans hope to select an architect by early next year from the shortlist of four, including the 92-year-old designer of the Louvre glass pyramid, I M Pei.
Rob Tincknell, managing director of Treasury Holdings, which is managing the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, said the embassy's move would help the area's regeneration. "The Nine Elms regeneration hinges on getting the right transport provision and we support the Mayor's efforts to ensure that the supporting transport infrastructure gets put in place," he said.
An American embassy spokesman declined to respond directly to Mr Johnson's warnings. He said: "As has been the case from the beginning of the new embassy project, we look forward to hearing comments and to addressing any concerns in a collaborative manner."
The man who will have to steer through the planning application and the negotiations associated with it will be Louis Susman, 71, whom Barack Obama appointed as American ambassador to Britain two months ago.
Reader views (45)
I'm totally not with Boris on this one if he wants to show he's in power and is ruling London than this should not be the way to do it!
The americans should definitely be exempt of paying the Congestion Charge as diplomats are exempt in every country!!!
Stop bullying Uncle Sam there are targeted in every country and there are entitled to protect themselves if not they will leave us and we need them more then they need us!!! they are our strategic partners (most terrorist cases caught in the UK has been done with help of the CIA)
- Eli, London
THE ONLY REASON I CAN THINK OF THAT THE USA WANT TO TRY THIS CASE IN AMERICA IS THAT IF THEY WERE TO 'ALLOW' THIS TRIAL TO BE HEARD HERE, THEY KNOW FULL WELL THAT THEY WOULD BE FORCED TO ANSWER EMBARRISING QUESTIONS [TO THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT] ABOUT THEIR WAR ON TERROR AND OTHER QUESTIONS THAT THE PENTAGON WOULD RATHER REMAIN HIDDEN
- Philip, IPSWICH ENGLAND.
Some here have asked why the US wants embassies with blast zones around them, instead of regular city offices?
Ask the embassy workers from Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Well, ask the ones who are still alive.
The fact is that an American Embassy, even in a friendly country like the UK, is a great big target for terrorists. And if it's a target, then sooner or later it will get hit, and Americans and Brits alike will die.
Also, the part about only American architects working on it is true. But that's not specific to the UK, nor is it anything new. US law has required American architects design American embassies for decades.
- Greg, Oklahoma, USA
Gentle diplomacy and firm negotiation should be the way forward.Provide a solution but ensure the US Govt pay their way. Perhaps do it behind close doors to avoid a slagging match.
- Roddy, Dubai. UAE
Hey, why does the US want a new embassy in London? Why not use all that space in Gauntanamo Bay? Big enough to run a world-class operation from there, ole' buddy?
- Anil, glos
Perhaps it's time to charge the UK $4 million or so for upgrades to the New York City subway system as you have a UN contingent there...or for the Washington DC Metro as you have an Embassy there. Interesting to hear the "hate speak" for the U.S. "Spoilt children" "Overbearing" "Bullying Race" "Late for Two World Wars" As many of my friends (and wife)are Brits I know this attitude is not representative of the majority. I do find it amusing that a citizen of the country that ruled the known world for centuries in a, more often than not, ruthless manner way,now points fingers when he apparently feels reduced to second team status. The successful and powerful are always to be demonized. Yes we were late for two wars as we tried to stay isolationist from European muck. If we hadn't shown up eventually your capital would most likely be Berlin today and you wouldn't have to worry about the location of an embassy in London? Cheers mate!
- Barry, Saluda, North Carolina, USA
Ruckus,
you need to get your facts right, the lend lease was not free, it was paid back over a long term period, over $7.5 billion dollars was repaid.This was finally repaid in Dec 2006.
Although I agree with some of your comments, other comments should have been made with all the facts.
I have a respect for the American public, but unfortunately they (The Government) still think that they should have anything they want.
- D.H., Surrey
Ruckus of Myrtle Beach, before lend-lease it was cash-and-carry, look it up on your puter-net.
This should not distract from the noble efforts of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
- Mike B, London
Who do the Americans think they are, always demanding their own way like spoilt children in a sweetshop.
Its about time someone took them down a peg or two.
I did not vote for Boris, but the more he stands up for Londoners like this the more of my respect he gets.
The last time I checked this was still the UK and not America, if they want their new Embassy they will have make sure they abide by our planning rules.
America does not rule the world, they need to be shown they can't push us around in our capital.
Thanks Boris, next time you WILL get my vote.
- Danny, Kennington, London UK
They should build their new embassy in Liverpool, where Americans are actually made welcome.
- James, Liverpool
Oh dear Ruckus! When are the Yanks going to join the rest of the world? Why can you not see that you are an unpopular, overbearing, bullying race which makes its own rules outside the rest of humanity?
Late for two world wars, intent on starting the next so as not to be so accused again, over-consuming essentials such as food and energy and expecting us along with the rest of the world to bow the knee to the great God USA.
More power to your elbow, Boris. We cannot have one rule for the Yanks and one for the rest of us.
- Rick, Ipswich, UK
More cheap populism from Boris, paying no regard to the views of those directly affected. Many Vauxhall residents are happy to put up with the building works and security issues for a project that will help transform this area. And at least the US Embassy are going to great lengths to listen to local people.
- Paul, vauxhall
BRING BACK THE ROUTEMASTER BUS BORIS,
YOU CAN'T EVEN DO THAT?.
- John L., Scarborough. North Yorkshire .England.
Good old Boris make them pay all the congestion and parking
charges as well, I think Boris should be made king of England
- Richard Edmunds, Rayleigh Essex
What is all of this about the treaty. You signed the treaty, now honour it. Or, do you just honour treaties you want to honour. Everything was fine until you were asked to anti up. Your "British Citizen" hacked into our Pentagon and NASA. He admts it. Anyone bright enough to do this, is bright enough to pay for it. He may suffer? Well, all people suffer when they are arrested. The USA does not want him tried in the UK because the UK is very weak on crime. It now has the highest crime rate of any developed country. I wonder why? How if during WWII we did not honour our Lend lease agreement? We honoured it because we signed it. It was ONE WAY AGREEMENT you got it all, we got nothing. This is about keeping your word. We can count on it or we can't. Seems like we can't. I don't expect this will be in the news.This paper censors many things they don't like
- Ruckus, Myrtle Beach USA
Having just returned from London and Berlin, and seen the monstrosity the US has built in Berlin, I side with the Brits on this. They are proposing an equally monstrous embassy in Oslo, Norway, across the road from where I lived as a child. They are going to destroy a beautiful woods. I was embarrassed to walk through the Brandenburg Gate and then see this ridiculous embassy. And we should pay the congestion charges too. I regret the heavy footprint my country is stamping all across the world. It doesn't make us a bit safer, as witness the attack at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, which is heavily fortified and guarded.
- Margaret, Arlington, VA
If the Americans want a lot of security in Battersea, why not plant them into the power station. Very high thick and walls and four aeriels for communicating .
- Mr S.Port, London
I just hope that the UD give more thought to the type of architecture they will be developing.
Their building in Grosvenor Square was/is an eyesore, especially when compared to the other buildings in this very beautiful Square.
No more rubbish fron Rogers who has blighted London with his monstrosities for too long
- Minnie Ovens, London, UK
The Americans did this in Zagreb, Croatia. They used to have an embassy in the middle of the town. They moved it to a space way out, near the airport. Big fences all around it and lots of "security". Why do the Americans have to appear to be so aloof all the time. And do they not ever ask themselves why they need all this security? What are they doing wrong? Or what perhaps do they intend to do wrong.....?
- Howard Beale, London
An extension of the Northern Line to BPS (and hopefully Clapham Junction and behind towards Richmond or Kingston eventually) would be nice but why on earth build a complete new station barely 500 yards from Vauxhall instead of connecting to the Victoria line there?
And although it doesn't matter what the Embassy looks like considering it's in an Industrial Estate, the Americans should pay up what they owe first.
- Sandra, London
A long at it an attractive green energy efficient building they pay the tolls and charges they owe and make a generous contributions to the transport infrastructure I have no problem them building the embassy. Afterall they are not short of doe.
- David, loughton
Fair enough - the US can have its own architects for the proposed new Embassy, but while they are here, British planning laws apply. I hope it does not restrict public access to the river front.
I'm not a fan of Boris, but he gets my backing on this. While the Ken-gestion Charge is unfair, there are plenty of us still having to pay it. There is no excuse for the US if the Embassies and High Commissions of smaller, less wealthy countries can pay up. I doubt if any British Embassy in the US would be allowed to behave in the same way.
- Mrmugambo, London, England
Put it out of harms way in the Thames Estuary along with his new Airport. But get it out of London so rsidents re no longer disturbed by demonstrations.
- Dhan Raj, Basildon
First of all the congestion charge is a form of taxation for which diplomats are exempt! The U.S. Embassy is not the only Embassy to making a stand against the charge, but you don't ever hear about the others. If the toll zone were to be extended, just wait and see how many other Embassies would kick up a stink about it. 'Red Ken' always hated the Embassy which is why he always highlighted the fact that the Americans refused to pay it.
9 Elms is a desolate, miserable area. With the arrival of the U.S. Embassy many other companies will no doubt move into the area. The whole landscape will flurish and new jobs will be created. Let us also not forget that the Americans already employ more than 500 UK residents to work in its mission.
I agree with a previous comment. For those of you critizing, it's becuase you have never visited the area. There is nothing there except for delapidated buildings, empty beer bottles, squaters and overgrown weeds.
Personally I'd like to thank the Yanks for being the first to take the plunge and invest in an area that has been totally forgotten and neglected for a number of decades.
The face of Vauxhall, 9 Elms and Battersea will finally receive that facelift it's required for such a long time!
This time I really don't think we need to critize the Americans.
- Lancelot, London
Any mention of Boris sends his liitle darlings orgasmic, particularlly Marianne, with one leg in france and the other in England. be careful love, or you will blow a fuse.
- James, Manchester London
ELSEWHERE IN TODAYS STANDARD THERE IS A REPORT ON HOW WE WILL EXTRADITE A BRITISH CITIZEN TO AMERICA, RATHER THAN TRY HIM OURSELVES, YET THEY DO NOT EXTRADITE TO US. THE AMERICAN EMBASSY I ONCE READ OWES THOUSANDS IN PARKING FINES, IS IT NOT ABOUT TIME WE STOPPED BEING AMERICAS POODLE., AFTER ALL THAT POLICY LED TO 100000 PEOPLE DIEING IN IRAQ
A LEAST IN BORIS WE HAVE ONE POLITICIAN WHO IS NOT AFRAID TO HAVE AN OPINION OF HIS OWN, CANT THINK OF ANY OTHER.
- Alan Green, Woodford Green
I TRULY HOPE & PRAY THAT THIS IS NOT ALSO SUCH AN ABOMINABLE UNSIGHTLY STRUCTURE AS THE PRESENT ONE IN MAYFAIR AT GROSVENOR GARDENS!
- Claudine Fourie-Grosvenor, Johannesburg RSA
If the USA wants a bomb-proof embassy, shouldn't they build it underground, rather than inflicting an eyesore on Londoners? (One that would still be vulnerable to a terrorist with explosives and an aircraft, at that).
We could probably even sell them a tunnel. There's a chunk of un-used Northern line tunnel that was used as a barracks buring WW2. More recently, the tunnel between Holborn and Aldwych ceased to be used, and the one from Green Park to Charing Cross is not in passenger service.
- Nigel, London
Is this the same America that has special extradiction treaties with us which allow one way traffic, ie, alleged uk criminals can be extradited to the USA for their version of justice, but USA nationals cannot be extradited to the UK. The same country that has demanded the skin of a young man suffering form Aspergers and thus with clearly 'special needs' who nonetheless managed all by himself to 'hack' through and penetrate America's 'security shield'. As for our government, how degrading they agreed to the extradiction treaty in the first place. Their subsequent added agreement to the extradiction of this young man can only be explained by supposing that UK laws are designed to protect any one other than a white UK national.
- Helen, norwich
If the US embassy still owes millions of pounds of unpaid congestion charge then they should not be allowed to do anything. Any agreement for the new building MUST incorporate a clause that the embassy pays all outstanding debts regarding the congestion charge AND pay all charges in the future.
- Andy, London
If the Northern line is extended to Battersea thanks to Boris I think it's only fair it be renamed the Johnson Line. This would be a great gift to London and a fantastic way of London remembering its best mayor when he has left office to become PM.
- Cheryl, Westminster, London
British diplomats have to pay US tolls, and the congestion charge is no more than a toll to use central London roads. I hope Boris digs his heels in over this one.
- Adam, London
Thank god we have Boris fighting for what's good for London. Ken would have just waved this through with no thought for anyone else like so many of his other hideous towers that have been built across London.
- Belinda, London
It's good to see how "el Amigo Boris" keeps the hands of the Americans off London business and UK laws. Do they think they can do anything they want to? Congratulations: you have the right man seated in the right chair.
- Juan Carlos Merino Lerena, Pozuelo de Alarcon, Madrid
Why is this blithering (choose an expletive) acting like such an upstart? When you think how much dosh the Yanks pour into keeping Britain going, its an act of ingratitude to refuse them the Embassy of their choice.
- Prototypical Englishman, Wormwood Scrubs
Also, not to be a pedant, but the mock-up photo of the embassy site is wrong. From the angle of the camera, the US Embassy would be behind / to the right of Elm Quay Court (apartment block in the foreground), not between Elm Quay Court and Market Towers. The site you've depicted in your photo is roughly where New Covent Garden Market is - and this is most definitely not being destroyed by the Embassy.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall
Stick to your guns Boris and you can guarantee yourself a huge public vote come the next mayoral elections (that is, if you're not positioning yourself for no.10 by then)
- Marianne, SW France/London
This is really making mountains out of molehills.
Yes, asking the Embassy to have more active frontages instead of a 4m wall is important and a welcome move... but there's nothing in principle wrong with having an embassy there. I'm a local resident, and the area where they are proposing to build the embassy is most definitely not one of the picturesque areas of Battersea that most people have in mind - it is, to be quite frank, a barren landscape of desolate (and in some cases, abandoned) warehouses. I do wonder if some of the people complaining about it have ever actually visited the area - if they had, they would have realised that pretty much anything is better than the current land uses, and something as prestigious as the US embassy would be a huge boon for the area.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall
I'm with the Americans on this. So long as their new embassy is in keeping with the area, which in this case is an industrial estate, then let them build it.
The CC is a tax in character and intent, and the US embassy is entitled not to pay it. Any blackmail over would be pathetic and petty.
- F Prefect, London
Do we really want a Green Zone in Battersea? And do we/they really need such an enormous presence anyway? Surely they don't need it just to issue visas. We should say no. This kind of fortress mentality is extremely damaging to society. The more that governments take a zero tolerance attitude to risk, the more all of us will feel as though we are living in a police state.
- Anne, London
The US Embassy should firsat pay the back-log of Parking Fines and other money owed to the GLC for refusing toi pay the congestion charge before the Planning application is even considered. Why should the Yanks be able to ignore the laws of England?
- A Dent, Acton England
Aren't these Americans supposed to be our partners? Dictating to us and kicking our citizens around in our own country is not the way to win friends.
".. they have a huge outstanding congestion charge bill." Pay up Uncle Sam.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
Great to learn that Boris and team are in command.
- Frank, BONCATH, WALES
Notice how the Americans are now so popular their embassy has to be a fortress in the middle of nowhere.
Thanks for considering the enormous time and expense for those being forced to travel there in order to be interrogated for a visa just to get into the U.S.
- Kate, London
Good stuff Boris, great to see the yanks can't bully all of our politicians (ahem, Alan Johnson) into submission all the time.
- St, London
