City Hall accused of ‘repeating mistakes’ of Garden Bridge scandal over £22m housing loan March 18, 2019 City Hall has been accused of repeating the mistakes of the Garden Bridge after it agreed to loan nearly £22m towards the development of a controversial housing site in south London. The Greater London Authority (GLA) has agreed to loan American property developer Anthology £21.8m to build homes at Woodlands and Masters house in Lambeth, despite [...]
City Hall at risk of Momentum takeover after Labour changes reselection rules March 14, 2019 City Hall could be targeted by hard-left Labour activists after the party changed rules to make the deselection of moderate candidates more likely. Labour’s governing body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), voted to change party rules for the Assembly last month, which one Labour Assembly Member (AM) said had sparked a “climate of fear and [...]
Government pours nearly £600m into housing around Old Oak Common and Brent Cross stations March 14, 2019 Nearly £600m will be poured into housing projects near key railway stations, housing minister James Brokenshire has announced. Up to £250m will got towards the construction of up to 13,000 new homes close to the new HS2 railway station at Old Oak Common, near East Acton. The new station at Old Oak Common is set to open [...]
TfL boss Mike Brown ‘hid Crossrail testing issues’ from Sadiq Khan in weekly email update March 14, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) boss Mike Brown ordered references to the difficulties Crossrail was experiencing with dynamic testing to be removed from email updates sent to Sadiq Khan, it was revealed today. At a grilling by the London Assembly's transport committee, Howard Smith, operations director for TfL Rail and the Elizabeth Line, admitted he felt Crossrail ought [...]
Tory mayoral hopeful Shaun Bailey pledges 10 per cent salary cut if he defeats Sadiq Khan in 2020 election March 11, 2019 Tory mayoral hopeful Shaun Bailey has vowed to take a 10 per cent pay cut and cap the salaries of his close political advisers if he defeats Sadiq Khan in the 2020 mayoral election. Bailey, who was selected as the Tory choice for mayor last autumn, has pledged to tackle increasing staff costs at City Hall, which he [...]
Sadiq Khan and local councils gear up for Heathrow third runway legal challenge March 11, 2019 A legal challenge against Heathrow's bid to build the third runway launches today in the High Court. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, five local councils and Greenpeace are taking the government to court over objections to the Department for Transport's (DfT) airport national policy statement, (NPS) the legislation that makes the case for Heathrow [...]
Sadiq Khan’s junk food advertising ban will hurt TfL and marketers, but fail to fight childhood obesity March 4, 2019 Last week, a divisive political leader brought an end to a scourge that threatened our everyday society. No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, whose summit with Kim Jong-un unfortunately failed to achieve the denuclearisation of North Korea. I’m talking instead about London mayor Sadiq Khan, whose ban on junk food advertising on the Transport [...]
Looking for space for homes in the capital? Build over rail lines March 4, 2019 A new survey of housebuilders published last week by construction consulting and design agency McBains is depressing reading for Londoners looking to get a foot on the housing ladder. Although two thirds of housebuilders in London reported that they had built more homes over the last 12 months, those that stated a decrease cited a [...]
Crossrail: Bond Street station work ‘could slip beyond 2019’ February 28, 2019 Completion of Crossrail's Bond Street station could slip to "late 2019 or even beyond", Transport for London (TfL) has admitted. New TfL papers reveal that none of the Crossrail stations are fully complete and that Bond Street, regarded as one of the more complex stations to fit out, would either be finished at the end of [...]
Sadiq Khan asks government for £5bn grant to protect housing from no-deal Brexit February 27, 2019 Sadiq Khan has asked the government to provide a £5.2bn emergency grant to to buffer housing in the capital from the negative effects of a no-deal Brexit. In a letter to the housing secretary, James Brokenshire, the mayor said he remained "deeply concerned" about the impact leaving the EU without a deal would have on London. [...]