Sadiq Khan threatens to use compulsory purchase powers to force ‘Tory town halls’ to build more homes

Sadiq Khan has accused “Tory town halls” of blocking new homes from being built in London and pledged to crackdown on housebuilding if re-elected.

The Labour candidate, who is campaigning for a record third term at City Hall, has vowed to use new land assembly zones in brownfield areas to designate sites where housing density can be increased – including compulsory purchase powers if needed.

The sites would be near transport hubs where fragmented land ownership is stifling delivery.

It comes as Labour claims Conservative boroughs have built 2,566 fewer homes than their Labour counterparts since 2016, which could have seen 30,000 more homes built.

Khan said: “The Conservatives nationally have scrapped housing targets and failed on their affordable homes plans. Meanwhile, Tory town halls in the capital simply aren’t keeping pace in delivering the new homes we need, ripping away the ladder from young Londoners.

“I’ll not hesitate to act to boost the number of new homes for London families, especially the council homes that our city needs most of all.”

Khan has said Tory-run boroughs which underperform on housebuilding will be put on notice that he intends to use his powers to set up new mayoral development corporations, such as those in place at Old Oak and Park Royal and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Across the capital as a whole, 79 per cent of planning applications were approved in 2023, according to government data, but in the two mayoral development corporations this went up to 96 per cent, Labour said.

“This election is a tight two-horse race, between a hard-right Conservative candidate who would make London’s housing crisis worse, and my positive plan for homebuilding, including 40,000 new council homes for Londoners,” Khan added.

A representative for Susan Hall said: “Susan will redo Sadiq Khan’s London plan, which for eight years has done nothing but tie up builders in red tape. Sadiqs paper-thin ‘promise’ mere days before an election proves that he isn’t listening to Londoners and views the concerns of Londoners as an afterthought.”