You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
London tenants call for Statement of Community Involvement from Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan should issue a ‘Statement of Community Involvement’ setting out his policy on engaging with residents over development, the London Tenants Federation has said.
The federation, which brings together social housing tenants’ organisations across London, made the call during a session at City Hall.
Pat Turnbull, a representative, was speaking at the Examination in Public for the draft New London Plan, a series of sessions intended to scrutinise the mayor’s planning policies.
She argued that the mayor should issue a Statement of Community Involvement, which would be a uniform policy setting out how he expects developers to consult residents when building in London.
READ MORE
Ms Turnbull told Inside Housing: “The mayor needs to commit to a policy which would require community consultation. This has to be the sort of consultation that gets to people who aren’t usually involved in consultation.
“These planning consultations usually just involve a few people who know a bit about planning, because it’s quite complicated.”
Many local authorities have Statements of Community Involvement, including Lambeth, Southwark and Tower Hamlets councils.
The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, which was established by Mr Khan in April 2015, also has a Statement of Community Involvement of its own.
Ms Turnbull, however, told City Hall that the mayor should issue a London-wide statement in order to ensure that best practice is followed throughout the capital.
Tenant engagement has become one of the social housing sector’s stated priorities since the Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people after at least 46 residents had warned about problems with fire doors.
The government’s Social Housing Green Paper, launched in part as a response to the fire, proposed a new national representative body for social housing tenants.
The London Tenants Federation has supported that suggestion but argued it should be answerable to local groups in order to give it legitimacy.
