'Sadiq Khan's green belt U-turn threatens Bromley's countryside'
When Sadiq Khan first ran for Mayor of London in 2016, he made a clear manifesto pledge: "I will oppose building on the green belt, which is even more important today than it was when it was created."
Now, he's looking to build on swathes of green belt land surrounding London, including Bromley — the borough with the largest green belt and more farms than anywhere else in the capital.
This huge policy reversal betrays many Londoners who took him at his word when he made this manifesto promise and separately pledged to be the "greenest mayor ever".
Despite having vast planning powers and substantial government funding, Mayor Khan hasn't delivered the homes London needs.
He's now looking for a quick way out.
His current London Plan — the capital's strategic planning document, which local authorities must follow — sets a target of building 52,000 homes annually.
However, housebuilding has fallen far short of this target, with fewer than 34,000 homes built on average per year since 2021.
An independent review of Mayor Khan's planning policies under the previous Conservative government revealed the reason for this failure.
The experts warned that his policies "work to frustrate rather than to facilitate the delivery of new homes on brownfield sites".
It added that without changes, "the current housing crisis will continue, if not worsen".
Sadly, the situation is getting worse.
New data from the analysts Molior found that developers started work on only 1,210 new homes in the first three months of this year.
Housebuilding in London isn't accelerating but is declining under Mayor Khan.
After nearly a decade at the helm, Mayor Khan is facing a crisis of his own making.
The new Labour government has imposed a target of 88,000 homes for London — more than twice the current rate of delivery.
The capital needs these homes, but Mayor Khan is looking for a way out.
But Labour's plan to move housebuilding from inner London, where the infrastructure is world-class, to Conservative-voting suburbs and rural villages in outer London is not as easy as Mayor Khan thinks.
Bromley may have a substantial green belt, but it's poorly connected and has little existing infrastructure.
If Mayor Khan builds thousands of new homes in the middle of fields, roads, schools, nurseries, and GP surgeries will need to be built.
But developers won't be able to pay for all this and meet the requirement that half of the homes be affordable.
Labour just don't understand life in outer London.
One Labour MP was surprised to learn that Biggin Hill has no train station.
While Bromley town centre has excellent rail connections to central London, it doesn't enjoy the orbital connections it needs with neighbouring towns and villages.
They think it's the same as inner London; it's not.
If Mayor Khan is serious about building new homes, he needs to address his failed policies that have frustrated housebuilding within inner London.
Breaking his promise and building on the green belt is not the housing panacea he thinks.
It's a recipe for unsustainable urban sprawl and the loss of London's precious remaining countryside.
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