The Mayor of London has blamed Brexit for the failure of his housebuilding project. Sadiq Khan was given £300 million by the Government to try and save the plans.
Khan blamed “a perfect storm facing housebuilding in London due to a combination of high interest rates, the rising cost of construction materials, the impact of the pandemic and the ongoing consequences of Brexit”. He added: “All of this means we are now in the midst of the most difficult period for housebuilding since the global financial crash.”
The mayor agreed to start a group of emergency measures to meet his goal of building 88,000 new homes a year after construction slowed. By the end of this year, just 40,000 houses will be under construction. The emergency measures include a £322 million investment to pay developers to clear land marked for development and the relaxing of planning laws to speed up the process.
Developers will no longer have to build 35% of homes to be affordable, with this requirement lowered to 20%. Projects able to start immediately will also get a tax break to encourage faster construction.
The mayor will also get new powers to be the primary decision-maker for green belt projects of more than 1,000 square metres.
Khan has previously blamed the decrease in housebuilding on Brexit, due to the loss of EU construction workers, supply chain disruption, and higher costs for building materials.
But many in the construction industry have blamed the mayor’s requirement for affordable housing, saying it makes building more expensive.
The Mayor added: “With these significant new powers and the initial £322m of funding from the Government. I’m confident that we can kickstart housebuilding and deliver more of the affordable homes Londoners badly need.”
The Greater London Authority will begin a six-week consultation, with emergency measures in place until 2028.