LDN Weekly – Issue 60 – 16 January 2019
LONDON ENDURES
Theresa May’s administration has suffered an almighty blow in Parliament and is bracing for a vote of no confidence later this evening. All bar eight of the capital’s 73 MPs voted to reject the Prime Minister’s deal, including 13 of the capital’s 21 Tories; Remainers such as former misters Jo Johnson and Justine Greening joined arch-Leavers including Zac Goldsmith and Theresa Villiers to condemn the Government to a huge defeat.
No Images? Click here LONDON ENDURESTheresa May’s administration has suffered an almighty blow in Parliament and is bracing for a vote of no confidence later this evening. All bar eight of the capital’s 73 MPs voted to reject the Prime Minister’s deal, including 13 of the capital’s 21 Tories; Remainers such as former misters Jo Johnson and Justine Greening joined arch-Leavers including Zac Goldsmith and Theresa Villiers to condemn the Government to a huge defeat.Meanwhile, this edition covers the London Plan’s Examination in Public as it enters its first week of hearings – a crucial milestone on its path to adoption towards the last quarter of the year. We also take a look at several other major planning and development stories in the capital as well as people moves, the 2020 London Elections, property law, culture, and the environment. And that’s not all! We further provide a sneak peek at an exciting week for LCA’s growing team, in a bumper edition which reminds us that the capital remains as busy as ever. As always, we’d love to hear your feedback and do follow us on Twitter and Instagram if you don’t already. Also, feel free to visit our website for more information on LCA’s team, services, and clients. EIP HEARINGS UNDERWAYThe draft new London Plan’s Examination in Public (EiP) hearings phase began in earnest on Tuesday. There will be 50 sessions held in total over 11 weeks, concluding on Friday 17 May. At the hearings – which are open to the public – Examiners receive representations on behalf of the Mayor (mostly by GLA officers and on occasion the relevant Deputy Mayors), as well as other stakeholders from across sectors. This first week focuses on high-level matters such as the Plan’s impact on environmental sustainability and social equality (discussed yesterday), the Mayor’s consultation and engagement with affected stakeholders (discussed this morning) and finally, the ‘Good Growth ‘ principles underpinning the Plan (discussed earlier this afternoon). Next week’s sessions will begin to hone in on more specific policies, such as the Plan’s ‘overall spatial development strategy’ and its approach to Opportunity Areas. Following the hearings and sometime during the summer, the Examiners will publish their report, after which the Mayor can publish his final Plan. Sadiq may in theory ignore Examiners’ recommendations for amendments, but he must explain his reasoning to the Communities Secretary, who does have the power to direct changes – indeed, James Brokenshire has already argued that elements of the draft Plan are not in line with national policies. GLA PLANNING LATESTOn 21 December and 2 January, Sadiq quietly published his and TfL’s comments on new or revised Local Plans being mooted by Westminster, Brent and Lambeth – as well as a number of other local planning policies these three councils have been consulting on in recent months. The Mayor’s responses focus on whether these are in line with the current and draft new London Plan and suggest that City Hall and Town Halls are not fully aligned on many points. Indicatively:
CITY OF LONDON LATEST
LAMBETH LATESTLib Peck, the Labour leader of Lambeth Council, has announced that she will be standing down in order to take on the role of Director of City Hall’s new Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). No dates have yet been announced for her standing down, for her seat’s by-election, or for her replacement – though we expect the last to be decided by councillors at a meeting of Lambeth Council in early February. Conservative Assembly Member Steve O’Connell, as Chairman of the Police and Crime Committee, has welcomed the appointment. But his fellow Conservative AMs Gareth Bacon, Susan Hall and Keith Prince, as well as Liberal Democrat AM Caroline Pidgeon, have criticised the appointment as partisan. Interestingly, Conservative Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has not commented on the appointment at the time of writing. Peck, who is also currently London Councils’ Deputy Chair and Executive Member for Crime and Public Protection, has been appointed at a challenging time for policing in London – only this week, it was reported that the Met Police’s homicide and major crime command (HMCC) has seen staff numbers decrease by 26% since 2008. Meanwhile, Peck’s resignation follows that of Thorton ward councillor and Labour Chief Whip Jane Edbrooke last December. It is understood Edbrooke stepped down after taking up a ‘politically restricted’ day job. The by-election for her seat is set to take place on 7 February. Also on Lambeth Council, we can confirm this week that Sue Foster, Lambeth’s Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Growth, has left after nine years at the Council. ISLINGTON LATEST
PEOPLE MOVES
2020 LONDON ELECTIONS: BLUE TEAM AND RED TEAMThe two largest parties on the London Assembly have selected their Mayoral candidates for the 2020 London elections and both have begun campaigning – but neither has finalised its of candidate lists (Londonwide and Constituency) for the Assembly elections, which will be held at the same time as the mayoral poll. So where do we currently stand?
2020 LONDON ELECTIONS: THE YELLOW, THE GREEN AND THE PURPLEWhat of the other parties on the London Assembly?
CANARY WHARF GROUP VS EUROPEAN MEDICINES AGENCYA crucial legal battle between the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and developers Canary Wharf Group (CWG) is set for a court hearing this week. With Brexit in sight, the EU regulatory body is moving to Amsterdam and has been trying to wriggle its way out of a 25-year office lease it signed in 2011 with CWG. There is much more than the eye-watering £500m value of the remaining lease riding on the case, as the EMA is arguing that Britain’s decision to leave the EU represents an unforeseen event which fundamentally impairs the performance of its contract. The Times sums up the implications of this quite nicely: ‘Lawyers and landlords fear a ruling in favour of the medicines agency could set a precedent for any UK-based business with significant operations located in the European Union to argue Brexit frustrates existing contracts.' The good news is that, again according to the Times, ‘no one has successfully argued that a tenant should be able to terminate their lease early’ on such a basis. Indeed, the EMA freely agreed the lease with no break clauses and is, apparently, able to sub-let the space if it so wishes. WALTHAM FOREST IN THE SPOTLIGHTOver the weekend, a number of events marked Waltham Forest becoming London’s inaugural Borough of Culture. ‘Welcome to the Forest’ kicked off the celebrations, with light installations and a winter carnival, which the Mayor attended on Friday evening. The borough has been awarded a grant of £1.35m (£1.1m of which is from City Hall) to enable a programme of diverse cultural activities, the launch of which was unfortunately marred by the murder of 14-year-old boy Jaden Moodie in the borough only a few days earlier. Some, such as Former Met Police superintendent Leroy Logan, have questioned the amount spent on the London Borough of Culture programme, arguing that the money could have been better spent on ‘tackling gang culture’. But Waltham Forest Council has – quite rightly in our opinion – responded that one of the initiative’s stated aims is to bring the local community together and provide young people with opportunities to take part in fun and educational activities. The council has also underlined that its inaugural events have paid tribute to Jaden and reflect the local community’s struggle with knife crime and its consequences. LONDON AIR QUALITYThe government this week published its Clean Air Strategy which involves the granting of greater powers to local authorities to enable them to do more in countering air pollution. This follows the launch of City Hall’s preparations for the rollout of its Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in April, and London Boroughs are themselves introducing their own initiatives to address the problem. One example of the latter is Hackney, whose ultra-low emissions streets (ULEV streets) initiative – which restricts the use of certain streets to walking, cycling and low emission vehicles only at peak times – was featured in the Guardian last week. Meanwhile, a report by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) last week warned Transport for London (TfL) that the concentration of particulate pollution in tube stations can be up to 30 times higher than on busy surface roads in the capital. The very real impact of air pollution can have was highlighted last week, after it was reported that the family of Ella Kissi-Debrah, a nine-year-old girl who died from asthma in 2013, has been given permission to apply for a fresh inquest into her death. Attorney General Geoffrey Cox agreed to the new inquest after he heard new evidence that Ella’s death could be linked to unlawful levels of air pollution. SHELTER REPORTFollowing the publication of the government’s social housing green paper in August 2018, housing and homelessness charity Shelter has published a report on the future of social housing. It was prepared by Shelter’s Social Housing Commission, which was convened in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy with Reverend Dr Mike Long (the Minister of Notting Hill Methodist Church) as its Chair. It highlights the need for a ‘decisive and generational shift in housing policy’ and urges the government to invest in social housing ‘that meets both needs and aspirations’. The report declares that ‘the biggest problem with social housing is that there simply isn’t enough of it’ and identifies a need for an additional 3.1 million social homes over 20 years. The report also makes a number of policy recommendations, touching on everything from Right to Buy to modern methods of construction. One of these recommendations argues that ‘residents must have a leading voice in major works to existing homes or neighbourhoods’ and that ‘the government’s good practice guidance on estate regeneration should be revised to reflect this’ – residents’ ballots are mentioned as one among several potentially useful tools in this regard.
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