The effects on the capital of the Housing and Planning Bill may be tough to predict with precision but even Tory MPs are worried.
A learned London housing analyst told me recently that it was tough to predict precisely what effect the government’s Housing and Planning Bill will have on the capital after it passes into law. This came as no surprise - the clearest thing approximately the housing policies proffered by the Conservatives during the election campaign was their dazzling opacity. What has come more into focus during Commons debate approximately the Bill is a enormous concern among London MPs that the measures as a whole will be bad,whether not calamitous, for the city - and that’s just the Tories.
Struggling to get the best of a bad job, and they have rallied round their mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith’s amendment to the Bill. This asks for a “binding guarantee” that London will see a net gain in “affordable” housing - a term whose meaning is becoming slipperier by the day - with at least two “low cost homes” (ditto) being built for each one forcibly sold by boroughs to help compensate housing associations for those they will lose due to the lawful-to-buy being extended to their tenants. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com