Tory London Mayor challenger vows to scrap affordable housing targets and free up space for 300k new homes

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Nearly 300,000 new homes would be built in the capital by controversially scrapping affordable housing quotas and overhauling planning rules, a Tory mayoral hopeful has said.

Businessman Alex Challoner, who has joined the race to be the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, claims his proposals could unlock land for 135,000 homes in Park Royal in west London alone.

A further 157,000 could potentially be built elsewhere in the capital by rewriting the London Plan to remove restrictions preventing suitable industrial land from being used for housing, while encouraging higher-density developments in areas with strong transport links, he said.

Mr Challoner also vowed to scrap mandatory affordable housing quotas under London’s temporary emergency planning measures where he believes they prevent otherwise viable developments from going ahead.

James CleverlyPAThe Government and Mayor Sadiq Khan last year agreed to bring down the percentage of affordable housing required for new developments in London from 35% to 20%.

The measures were introduced to help speed up planning decisions and incentivise developers who were promised a fast-tracked application if they agree to a fifth of scheme being affordable housing.

But Mr Challoner argued these requirements can make projects financially unviable and leave potential sites undeveloped.

He said: “Sadiq Khan has failed to build the homes Londoners desperately need. While he announces targets he cannot deliver, young people are being priced out of the city they grew up in and families are struggling with soaring rents.

“London doesn’t have a shortage of land. It has a shortage of political courage. We have vast industrial sites next to some of the best transport connections in the world, while rigid housing quotas stop viable developments ever getting off the ground.

“My plan would unlock land for nearly 300,000 homes, scrap the quotas holding back development and tear up London’s bloated planning rulebook.

“London needs a Mayor who will stop finding excuses and start getting homes built.”

Alex Challoner wants police to guard Tube ticket gatesAlex ChallonerMr Challoner, who founded Cavendish Communications, made a late bid for the Conservative nomination by unveiling a raft of eye-catching policies last month.

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He has also pledged a huge crackdown on fare dodgers on the Underground with police guarding ticket gates at Tube stations as a “visible deterrent” and plain clothes officers operating alongside them across the network.

Former home Secretary Sir James Cleverly is favourite to be selected to take on Lord Sadiq Khan or another Labour candidate if he does not stand in the 2028 election.

The MP for Braintree has already won the support of more than half the Conservative councillors in London.

But he faces competition from former Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye, chair of the London Assembly Andrew Boff and businessman Mr Challoner.

A final candidate is expected to be chosen in December.