City Hall responds re 25% cap
Last friday Property Week Magazine claimed that the London Mayor, Boris Johnson is planning to set a new cap of 25% for affordable homes in key housing zones and opportunity areas, this if introduced would effectively block local authorities from negotiating up from that threshold.
A response from City Hall has played down such reports that a 25% cap was to be put on affordable homes being built in the capital by the Mayor, according to Property Week the Mayor’s office “declined to comment” when contacted by them.
City Hall however responded on friday afternoon telling MayorWatch that Mr Johnson was not seeking to impose a central cap and that the new draft Supplementary Planning Guidance suggests “boroughs could explore introducing area-based targets in Housing Zones and Opportunity Areas where this would provide additional certainty and incentivise developers to increase affordable housing offers.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor reportedly commented: “History shows that setting unrealistic targets at City Hall would be unaffordable for developers and burdensome for boroughs, leading to fewer homes being built.
“Instead of arbitrary thresholds, the Mayor is determined to make sure that schemes include as much affordable housing as viable to ensure that new homes get built as quickly as possible, and help more Londoners get onto the property ladder.”
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