Greater London Authority Bill

I resist Amendment No. 76 and I encourage the Minister to resist Amendment No. 89. The noble Lord, Lord Tope, asked, in the context of another amendment, what question we are trying to address. I suggest the question here is homelessness in London. Two-thirds of all homeless households are in the capital; half of all overcrowded households are in the capital; and there are acute affordability issues for first-time buyers and growing families who need to move on. That is all at a time when in the past fiscal year at least four competent London boroughs that are in receipt of planning applications managed social housing units only in single figures. That is a disgrace. I declare an interest as chairman of English Partnerships. Currently, I have a number of planning applications in the system in London—not our own applications. I wish to resist Amendment No. 89 because I am constantly asked to intercede by house builders who tell me that they accept the London plan; they have got used to the idea of 35 per cent social housing and 15 per cent intermediate housing—that no longer causes them a problem—they have got used to the idea that housing in the capital should include high environmental standards; and, compared with four or five years ago, they are fairly relaxed about some of the aspects of the Mayor’s plan; but they are frustrated because when they put in an application that conforms to the London plan, frequently individual boroughs choose to dumb down the amount of social housing, try to dumb down the density and so on. That leads to many house builders spending four or five years in unarmed combat in the appeals system. Sadly, many house builders simply up sticks and are no longer prepared to do business in the capital. When the pressure on housing for young people, homeless people and growing families is as acute as we can remember, it is misguided to suggest in Amendment No. 89 that boroughs ought to ““have regard to”” rather than ““be in general conformity with”” the London housing strategy. It would make the process of providing good quality, affordable housing and housing across the range of tenures much easier in London. I strongly urge my noble friend to resist the amendment.