Mayor of London labels Gove’s London Plan Review a ‘desperate political stunt’

Sadiq Khan has hit out at Michael Gove’ review of his development strategy for the city, calling it “a desperate political stunt”.

The London Plan review, which was due to be delivered to the housing secretary on Monday, was announced shortly before Christmas as part of a major planning speech.

In a letter to Mayor of London in December, Gove said he had appointed a panel of expert advisors to look into aspects of the spatial strategy “which could be preventing thousands of homes being brought forward, with a particular focus on brownfield sites in the heart of our capital”.

In the correspondence, Gove said that London was the worst-performing region in the Housing Delivery Test 2022, adding that the average number of net additional dwellings built by the GLA per year is 38,000, which he said was 15,000 fewer homes every year than Khan’s target in the London Plan.

>> See also: London mayor is failing to provide enough affordable homes, Gove says

>> See also: Gove officially waters down housing targets

Gove warned Khan that he would intervene if the mayor could not do what was necessary to deliver the homes that London needed.

In a statement to the Evening Standard, Khan said: “This latest review is a desperate political stunt by Conservative ministers, and it will fool no one.”

Khan added: “The truth is Labour London is outbuilding the rest of the country, and we’re showing up ministers’ dismal failure on council and affordable housebuilding nationally.

“We certainly won’t take lessons from a Government that has scrapped housing targets nationally.

“If the Conservatives really cared about boosting housing delivery, they’d act on my calls for more investment in affordable housing and stop caving to backbenchers by watering down housing targets.”

Khan also told the Standard “undermining devolution to distract from their record of failure”.

The panel of experts carrying out the review is led by Christopher Katkowski KC, a barrister specialising in planning, and includes James Jamieson, a Conservative councillor at Central Bedfordshire Council, architect Paul Monaghan, at Alford Hall Monaghan Morris and Dr Wei Yang, a town planner.

The review was expected to be delivered to Gove by Monday, 15 January. The Department for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing has yet to confirm whether the review has been received.