'Local homes for local people' call

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Warning that Mayor's plans could result in people living miles away from their choice

People dreaming of moving into a low-cost home in Wandsworth are being warned that they could end up living miles away on the other side of London under plans put forward by Mayor Ken Livingstone.

The Mayor has announced that he wants to take control of deciding who gets to live in newly-built affordable homes in London. He also intends that by 2012 London's boroughs and housing associations must surrender a quarter of all their properties that become available for rent.

Under the Mayor's plans people waiting for a council flat in Wandsworth could be told they must go and live in places as far away as Hackney or Dagenham.

It would mean that people who have grown up in boroughs like Wandsworth, who have jobs, families and friends in the area, could be sent to parts of London where they know absolutely no-one and where they have no links or support network.

The Mayor's proposals, have been roundly condemned by London's town halls. In a survey published last week by leading housing magazine Inside Housing, only one of the capital's 32 boroughs – Haringey – offered unqualified support for the Mayor's scheme.

Nineteen others, of all political persuasion, said they were utterly opposed to the Mayor's idea. Eight said they were broadly in favour but still had serious reservations and four were undecided. One north London council's deputy leader reportedly described the Mayor's proposals as "mad".

Wandsworth's executive member for housing Cllr Martin D Johnson pictured left said: "This is yet another naked power grab by the Mayor, who as part of his draft Housing Strategy, wants to tell thousands of Londoners where they can and cannot live.

"People who have lived their whole lives in this and neighbouring boroughs, and who want to remain living alongside their families and friends, face being shunted off to other parts of London that they know nothing about, where they have no roots, ties or prospects merely to satisfy the Mayor's lust for power.

"As well as seizing control of all the new low cost homes that are currently being built in places like Wandsworth, by 2012 he wants to direct who lives in 25 per cent of all council properties and housing association homes that come up for re-letting each year. This is around 330 council homes each and every year in Wandsworth that the Mayor wants to grab.

"If his plans are allowed to proceed unchecked it will mean the end of the idea of 'local homes for local people'. His approach will put at severe risk the stability and sustainability of London's local communities."

The council's home ownership unit plays a vital frontline role in helping Wandsworth first-time buyers get a foot onto the housing ladder. Since it was set up in 1979 it has helped around 28,000 borough residents purchase their own affordable home. The unit is now responsible for marketing virtually all the low-cost affordable homes being built in the borough that are being offered for sale on shared-ownership terms.

November 2, 2007