London Mayoral election 2016

With the London Mayoral elections being held on 5th May 2016, Designing Buildings Wiki has taken a look at the candidates’ manifestos to find out what proposals they have for construction, housing, energy and infrastructure issues.

[edit] Sian Berry - Green Party

• Set up a not-for-profit housing company for London and use an increase in council tax to invest in new homes and community-led housing projects.
• Establish a People’s Land Commission to make more public land available to community-led housing projects.
• Create a Community Homes Unit of experts in planning and project development in City Hall to help communities and small builders develop their plans.
• Establish a ‘Right to Regenerate’ to give residents the chance to take control of regeneration by developing their own Neighbourhood Plans and establishing a community-led company.
• Provide 200,000 new homes by 2020, with 50,000 new homes a year created through a combination of new-build and redeveloping empty properties.
• Introduce a planning policy requiring any regeneration of council or housing association estates to have a comprehensive, independent analysis carried out of the social, environmental and economic benefits of all possible options, which will always include refurbishment and regeneration.
• Introduce stronger planning rules on taller buildings.
• Cancel plans for new road-building schemes, including river crossings and new road tunnels, focusing investment instead on new river crossings for people on foot, bikes and public transport.
• Permanently remove motor vehicles from Oxford Street as soon as possible.
• A requirement for a range of cultural spaces, including arts and music venues, to be built in new developments.
• Preserve London’s green belt and introduce metropolitan open land protections in the next London Plan.
• Introduce new planning rules to require suitable new roof spaces to include solar technology.

[edit] David Furness - British National Party

• No third runway at Heathrow.
• No Crossrail 2 station at Kings Road, Chelsea.
• Local housing for local people.
• Protect social housing – people before profit.
• No more building of mosques.

[edit] George Galloway – Respect

• Ensure any housing project submitted for approval includes 50% affordable housing.
• Define ‘affordable housing’ as being 50% of average rent instead of 80% as is currently the case.
• Introduce legislation to take back idle properties and developments, which are not lived in, rented, or used for business purposes by the owner.
• Introduce a land tax on empty properties, which year-on-year will make it uneconomic for speculators to leave properties empty.
• Gatwick offers a better alternative than a third runway at Heathrow.

[edit] Paul Golding - Britain First

Unable to find any relevant policies.

[edit] Zac Goldsmith – Conservative Party

• Double home-building to 50,000 a year by 2020 and ensure development is in keeping with the local area.
• Give SMEs first right of refusal to build on small plots of public sector land.
• Give Londoners the first chance to buy new homes built in London.
• Ensure a significant proportion of all new homes are only for rent and not for sale.
• Protect the green belt from development.
• Create more green spaces and clean up local parks so they are safe to visit and enjoy.
• Opposes a third runway at Heathrow.

[edit] Lee Harris – Cannabis is safer than alcohol party

Unable to find any relevant policies.

[edit] Sadiq Khan – Labour Party

• Establish ‘Homes for Londoners’, a new team in City Hall that will include councils, housing associations, developers, home-builders, investors, businesses and residents’ organisations.
• Build new homes on land owned by the Mayor and bid to develop other public sector land.
• Exercise ‘use it or lose it’ powers to make sure developers who have planning permission build homes and do not land-bank.
• Ensure estate regeneration only takes place where there is resident support, based on full and transparent consultation.
• Invest in older homes to make them more energy-efficient as part of the '100 per cent London' campaign to switch London over to clean energy.
• Amend the London Plan to give greater protection for residents affected by large-scale basement excavation works, and include stronger policies on tall buildings.
• Protect the green belt, green spaces and play spaces, prioritising development on brownfield sites.
• Oppose the construction of a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
• Prioritise the improvement of high streets, squares and public spaces across the city - including outer London and inner London.
• Make the most of the city’s roofs, public buildings and land owned by TfL for energy generation by producing a solar energy strategy.
• Ensure all new developments meet low carbon, energy efficiency and sustainability standards.
• Reduce energy demand by working with industry to accelerate the roll out of smart meters.

[edit] Caroline Pidgeon – Liberal Democrats

• Roll out solar across 200,000 London rooftops by 2025
• Invest billions to build 50,000 council homes to rent and 150,000 for sale or for private rent including rent-to-buy for first time buyers – with a City Hall building company and a skills academy to train construction workers.
• Use the Mayor’s planning powers more effectively to encourage home building, including setting a benchmark guideline that half of housing in new developments should be affordable for the majority of Londoners.
• Work with boroughs to use the greater financial muscle they now have through their housing revenue accounts to restart their own building programmes.
• Bring forward plans for Crossrail 2.
• Complete the upgrade of all the Tube lines.

[edit] Sophie Walker – Women’s Equality Party

• Convene a cross-party committee on housing, understanding that the problem in the capital is too big for old-fashioned party politics.
• Make housing more affordable.
• Develop a new design standard that puts people at the heart of design. Increase the role of architects and users in planning solutions to create better environments for everybody.
• Work with property developers – Build more family homes rather than investment flats and ensure more houses and flats meet the standards of ‘lifetime homes’, so they are easily adaptable for lifelong use at minimal cost.

[edit] Peter Whittle – UKIP

Unable to find any relevant policies.

[edit] Find out more

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki:

• Construction 2025.
• Construction industry response to Budget 2016.
• Green belt.
• Home ownership.
• Housing Strategy for England.
• Interview with Labour's Shadow Housing Minister.
• London infrastructure plan.
• London View Management Framework.
• Must cities grow to compete?
• The London Plan.
• UandI Think event with John McDonnell MP.