Capital Letters by JBP provides an insight into the world of London politics and development.
Conservative Party announces open primary in London mayoral selection contest
The Conservatives have announced that all Londoners will be able to vote in the contest to become the Tory candidate for Mayor of London. Anyone on the electoral roll in London will be able to register and vote online, and the shortlist of candidates will be released by the end of July. The final Conservative candidate will be announced in September.
Currently there are seven hopefuls competing for the Conservative logo next to their name on the ballot paper. The influential blog ConservativeHome polled 900 Party members – not just those from London - for their preference. Zac Goldsmith is comfortably in the lead with 56%, followed by Syed Kamall on 28%, Sol Campbell on 5%, Ivan Massow on 4%, Stephen Greenhalgh on 3% and Andrew Boff on 2%. The results suggest that, with three months to go, Goldsmith is the favoured Conservative candidate.
London planning permission approvals up
This week, many media outlets have reported that the rate of house price inflation across the UK has hit a two year low, but in London they increased by 7.3% over the same period. With an average price of £429,711, the capital desperately needs additional housing stock – according to estate agents Stirling Ackroyd. London boroughs granted permission for 11,870 homes to be built during the first quarter of this year. This apparently represents nearly 20,000 more approvals than in the previous quarter at the end of 2014. If that rate continues throughout 2015 that would mean 47,460 homes in total would be given planning permission.
According to Andrew Bridges, manager director of Stirling Ackroyd, this still won’t be enough. He states that London will need 57,000 homes built every year for the next decade to cope with population growth.
Across Greater London, 25% of these permissions came from Tower Hamlets which approved applications for 2,940 homes. The next highest rate of approvals was from Greenwich with 1,930. This is in contrast to the two boroughs with the lowest rate of planning approvals, Barking and Kingston, with 8 and 21 approvals respectively.
Third runway at Heathrow Airport recommended by Commission
Following three years of discussion, the Davies Airports Commission has finally made recommendations for Heathrow to have a third runway, with the potential for Gatwick expansion as well.
Conservative MP and favourite for London Mayor, Zac Goldsmith, has long been opposed to the expansion at Heathrow, deeming the policy “appalling”; a view shared by the current Mayor Boris Johnson. This is of course somewhat problematic for the Prime Minister and the Chancellor who have promised to respond to Davies by the end of the year.
The Labour Party is equally divided on the issue; Dianne Abbott, Sadiq Khan and Christian Wolmar have all come out in opposition to the prospect of a third runway. Gareth Thomas has, in comparison backed the proposal; believing that “Londoners support airport expansion and understand the number of jobs it can bring to the area”.
JBP's Mayoral Watch
- The Green Party has confirmed its candidates for the London Mayor. They are Jonathan Bartley, Sian Berry, Tom Chance, Benali Hamdache and Caroline Russell.
- Zac Goldsmith has announced he will hire Lynton Crosby to run his campaign if he is selected as the Conservative mayoral candidate.
- Sadiq Khan revealed he would do “everything in [his] power to stop fracking in the capital” and will also support community energy production if elected as London Mayor.