The Mayor of London, who is the chair of the new London Legacy Development Corporation, was this week held to account over his promises to deliver affordable housing within the Olympic Park.
 
At a full meeting of the London Assembly the Mayor was questioned by Caroline Pidgeon over whether he plans to dilute his target of delivering 35% affordable housing across the whole Olympic Park, as already the first planning application only has a target of 28% affordable housing.
 
Caroline highlighted the unique opportunities that the Mayor has, as he not only owns the land, but is also responsible for setting the affordable housing targets and determining local planning applications as chair of the London Development Legacy Corporation.
 
With over 800,000 people now waiting for affordable housing in London Caroline told the Mayor:
 
“If you can’t or won’t build affordable homes to meet your own targets, then surely you are giving the green light to every other developer in London to simply abandon any attempts to build the affordable homes we need?”
 
Caroline also challenged the Mayor to stand by his repeated commitment to transparency at City Hall by publishing the financial viability studies for each site where his affordable housing target is not met.