‘Failing’ London Mayor to miss home building target
Sadiq Khan oversaw only 347 new build starts between April and June despite having a target of thousands to achieve.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan is set to miss his own affordable home building target after new figures showed just a few hundred building starts.
New statistics from the Greater London Authority revealed construction on only 347 affordable homes began between April and June, it is reported.
Well below target
This rate is well below the required pace of new builds Khan needs to meet his target of 19,000 by March next year. So far, work has started on just 5,500 in total
Lord Bailey, who was previously a candidate to replace Khan and the Conservatives’ housing spokesman, said the Mayor was “clearly failing”.
Khan is clearly failing, and we all pay the price.”
“London’s housing crisis becomes more severe with every passing day, putting an increasing burden on Londoners and London councils with rising rents and mortgages.
“Struggling Londoners need the Government to succeed in tackling this issue, but Khan is clearly failing, and we all pay the price,” he said.
“How will he ever meet his own targets, let alone the targets his own Government has set him? He’s the weakest link in this chain.”
Hard decisions
A spokesman for the Mayor told the Telegraph: “Sadiq has made tackling this crisis a priority since he took office, and despite these challenges the highest number of affordable homes for social rent in a decade were completed last year.
“The Mayor is taking the hard decisions to improve housing supply of all tenures.
“He is actively exploring releasing parts of London’s green belt for development, and is working closely with the Government to resolve issues like delays from the Building Safety Regulator.”
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