Boff: Khan’s housing plan means ‘war on the suburbs’

London Assembly member and Conservative mayoral hopeful Andrew Boff has slammed Sadiq Khan’s draft London Plan, saying he has “abandoned all targets” for family-sized affordable homes. The plans, published in December, have also come under fire from the government for not reflecting the capital’s housing needs. Boff is standing for London mayor for the fourth time, after trying in 2000, 2004 and 2008. He has been a Conservative member of the London Assembly since 2008, and before that he was a Conservative member of Hillingdon Council and of Hackney Council. He has also previously attempted to become mayor of Hackney three times. He is running against Ealing councillor Joy Morrissey and Shan Bailey, deputy leader of the London Assembly Conservatives. Why are you running to be mayor of London? I have a bunch of ideas and think that democracy needs a bit of updating, frankly. Sometimes we are, ironically, a bit too conservative about what we can do at a government level to improve people’s lives. I have always been accused of – or complimented for – being quite radical in my thinking. That comes from a perspective of someone who has experience to know whether what I am promising is achievable. I think democracy needs a kick up the backside occasionally – that is why I have wanted to stand for mayor. The strong turnout for the EU referendum vote has activated people – they have the power in their hands. For too many years, we have kept the leaders of power away from people and I think democracy needs updating in that sense. When I ran for mayor of Hackney, where there is a strong Labour political machine, I was astonished at how much they ignored and took people for granted – people who are marginalised. What is your manifesto? I want to create a London that is at peace with itself and treats its residents like adults. What are your views on housing? I was born in a council house, I authored a report on overcrowding, and what I talk about is achievable. I am careful about not promising what I can’t deliver. It would be insincere of me to say I have got the targets now, but six months before the elections for London mayor in 2020 I will come up with particular metrics relating to the resolution of overcrowding and the amount of building that needs to be done. My particular concerns are on overcrowding, with hundreds of thousands of people being brought up in overcrowded conditions. The mayor has abandoned all targets for family-sized affordable homes: his London Plan almost mandates boroughs to build one- or two-bedroom homes. On the one hand, he says, “Overcrowding is not my problem, leave it to boroughs”; and on the other hand, he removes powers for them to resolve it because he is basically saying the London Plan will override local planning discretion when it comes to the size of homes and that developers will be able to develop smaller properties. The London Plan is a declaration of war on the suburbs: it removes the density metrics, removes the protection of back gardens, and gives the green light to tall buildings. What solutions or ideas do you have for the UK housing sector? Our political targets relate to how many front doors you can build. While the political target is focused on front doors, that drives developers to build smaller properties. We need a high priority [to be placed on] larger family homes. I would shift political targets away from front doors and into bedrooms. I don’t think there should be any developments above six storeys, apart from five areas of London: Nine Elms, Canary Wharf, City of London, Croydon, and another area to be bid for by any London borough. I think anyone who can see a tower block should be consulted on whether it should be there. If you take the Shard, that would be applied to around 6m or 7m people. I am not advocating ripping them down; my view is that the skyline belongs to all Londoners and they should all have a say. I also want to increase the supply of properties that people want to live in. Housing can be beautiful, it does not have to be functional. It strikes me that the word “beauty” does not appear once in the London Plan. People know what is beautiful but they leave it to local communities to decide on it and are too frightened of democracy. In addition, I would end the practice of subsidising “poor doors”. I can’t believe that, in the 21st century, we have publicly funded housing projects that segregate people according to class. What else does your campaign focus on? We have also got to prioritise violence. We need to treat the increase in violence in London as a public health emergency. I will set up a multi-agency London violence reduction commission. It will treat the upswing in violence as a disease, effectively, and will bring all agencies that interface with young people on board. You previously said you supported setting up “a managed area of street prostitution” in east London? Do you still support this? That is something that the local authorities have to resolve from bottom up, with supportive police. As mayor, I would be supportive about keeping people safe and ensuring that people aren’t exploited. Vulnerable people are not protected enough and it is much better to provide a supportive environment for people who are marginalised. Look at one example: Holbeck, outside Leeds [the UK’s first official red light district] – this is still controversial as it is still a difficult thing to tolerate. I am not saying [all] prostitution [activities] should be legalised, but this is about people who don’t have choices so there has to be a way out. All the Conservative mayoral candidates voted for Brexit in the referendum. How will you reconcile that, given that London voted overwhelmingly against Brexit? It is not the case that all people voted for the same thing when they voted to leave the EU. I voted for the Norway option because one of the things I always remember was how passionately Margaret Thatcher voted for the single market. I think voting out of it would be a mistake. A spokesperson for Sadiq Khan said: “The mayor is doing everything possible to turn around the desperate housing crisis left by his predecessor. He makes no apologies for his draft London Plan, which will make it easier to build the new genuinely affordable homes Londoners desperately need, and comes after City Hall funded more affordable and social homes starts last year than ever before. “Assembly Member Boff clearly hasn’t read the draft London Plan as his claims are total nonsense. Sadiq’s draft plan actually strengthens protections for gardens compared with Boris Johnson’s plan by ensuring there is no net loss of green cover. It also requires boroughs to set out their needs for family-sized homes based on social rent levels, which wasn’t even mentioned in the previous plan.” To send feedback, e-mail anna.ward@egi.co.uk or tweet @annaroxelana or @estatesgazette