Peter Fortune MP's latest column in the News Shopper.
I have discussed the threat posed to our Greenbelt on many occasions both in Parliament and in these columns. The primary reason for that threat, is Sadiq Khan’s abject failure as Mayor of London on housing.
If we look at some of his promises in 2016, he said his first priority would be tackling the housing crisis. His first manifesto promised a step change in new housing supply, and that 50% of new homes would be affordable. Nearly a decade later he certainly hasn’t delivered that step change. House building has in fact ground to a halt, it was down 73% in London last year.
Sadiq Khan has nothing to show for his 9 years in charge. Four fifths of homes built in 2024, were approved under Boris Johnson’s mayoralty. The average home in London cost £483,000 in 2016, but about £570,000 today. The average rent cost £1,292 per month in 2016. Today, it’s £2,106.
Solving London’s housing crisis It is not a question of money, Sadiq Khan has been given nearly £9 billion to deliver on housing in the capital. Yes, you read that right, £9 billion. It is not a question of powers either, he has strategic planning powers in London. Instead, it is about bad policy, as we have seen time and time again in City Hall.
Khan’s London plan is onerous and expensive, and his affordability targets act as a tax on house building. But instead of addressing the problem, the Labour Government have danced around the issue. They even scrapped a mandated review of the London plan after independent experts found it to “frustrate rather than facilitate” building on the brownfield sites
To add insult to injury, instead of taking powers away from the failing Mayor they have rewarded him, giving him power to call in developments of 50 homes on green-belt sites. Instead of removing the obstacles to building on brownfield sites they are weakening green-belt protections.
Consultants Molior London predict that just 9,100 homes will be built across 2027 and 2028 - that is under 5% of the Government’s target for London. London is supposed to deliver more than a quarter of the Government’s 1.5 million homes target, but that target appears to be dead in the water.
So that is why Bromley’s green spaces are under threat, Sadiq Khan has failed to build on brownfield sites in London, and so he has turned to what he sees as an easy win, building on the greenbelt. With the Government even cutting housing targets in inner London while increasing them in the outer London boroughs.
We can build the homes that London needs if Sadiq Khan and the Government turn their eyes away from our greenbelt and unlock building on London’s large swathes of industrial land, often within walking distance of public transport. But if the Government want to meet their housing targets, they need to realise that Sadiq Khan is not a builder, he is a blocker, and his record proves it.
