Clause 30
Greater London Authority Bill
12:15 pm
Greg Hands (Hammersmith and Fulham, Conservative)
There is some truth in that, but for large developments close to borough boundaries, existing powers provide for consultation with neighbouring and nearby boroughs. In the wrong hands, I fear that the proposal will give rise to a meddler’s charter. As we have seen in recent years with existing powers, some of the Mayor’s interventions on local councils will be highly selective, media-driven and politically motivated.
I shall return to the point about a worst case scenario raised by the hon. Member for Lewes, which involves cases under a different type of Mayor. I ask Labour Members to imagine a Mayor who pledges to deliver no affordable housing in London, who is given those powers to meddle and intervene in the 32 boroughs and who takes over developments and directs that no affordable housing shall be built. If that Mayor were close to a developer or set of developers, the accusation would arise that they were influenced by a developer seeking to maximise their profit by not delivering affordable housing. The hon. Member for Ealing, North might think that that is a hypothetical scenario, which it probably is—it probably will not happen—but we must look beyond the current personality and consider what could happen under a different Mayor.