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London politicians make Budget demands

London mayor Sadiq Khan and 21 London boroughs have written to the chancellor urging him to give councils more borrowing freedom in this week’s Budget.

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The mayor, council leaders and London Assembly members have written to the chancellor #ukhousing

Sadiq Khan has written to the chancellor on council borrowing #ukhousing

A cross-party group of London Assembly members has called on the chancellor to act on offsite #ukhousing

In the letter, the mayor and the boroughs call on Philip Hammond to lift borrowing caps on councils’ Housing Revenue Accounts, loosen restrictions on Right to Buy receipts, bring investment back to pre-2010 levels and strengthen local powers of land assembly.

The letter comes shortly after a cross-party group of London Assembly members wrote to the chancellor to take action to support offsite manufacturing (OSM) of housing. The group, which included Labour, Conservative, Green and Liberal Democrat members, said OSM was crucial to solve the skills crisis in the sector.

That letter added: “In order to reap the benefits of OSM and move one step closer to fixing our broken housing market, investment in this method of construction must generate scale at both a national and local level.”

Mr Khan’s letter was more wide-ranging, concluding: “Without government supporting a step change in our freedoms, resources, and powers, London’s housing crisis will continue with no end in sight. The prime minister committed during her recent conference speech to ‘getting government back into the business of building houses’, including ‘a new generation of council houses’ – but so far her actions have fallen dramatically short of what is needed.

“We urge you to use your Budget this week to support a new generation of council homebuilding, and allow us to build a city that works for all Londoners.”

Mr Khan added: “Archaic rules need to be reformed, a legacy of under-investment needs to be reversed, and new powers need to be devolved to London.

“Turning London’s housing crisis around won’t happen overnight but the best chance we have is if London’s government – from town halls to City Hall – are put firmly in the driving seat.”

Sir Steve Bullock, mayor of Lewisham, said: “We have heard from ministers and the prime minister herself that they recognise the scale of the housing crisis and are determined to do something about it.

“Those of us who have the responsibility for housing in London have set out in this letter exactly what we need from the Budget in order to begin to solve that crisis.”

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