GLA waters down Ken's 50% social housing pledge

The Greater London Authority has offered housebuilders an olive branch over Ken Livingstone's plan to insist on 50% social housing in London housing developments.

The GLA said it was prepared to accept payments from housebuilders instead of the 50% provision.

GLA senior policy adviser Neale Coleman said the 50% target would not be suitable for some sites. He said: "There will be circumstances when it will be appropriate to take payments instead of provision. There is no one-size-fits-all policy. We will not adopt a policy that we know will impede the supply of land." Coleman insisted that the GLA was not backing down. He said: "That target was never intended to be for every site. There will be times with housing association schemes that the provision will be above 50%. This is an overall objective." Coleman did call for housebuilders to be more open in negotiations with authorities. He said: "We want flexibility and more transparency from developers. No-one is saying: 'Open your books', but we have to change the climate where developers think they are being threatened." Housebuilders welcomed the move. A House Builders Federation spokesperson said: "We are pleased that the GLA has listened to the concerns of housebuilders.

"We are going to have to be much more flexible to encourage enough free market housing and affordable housing at a level to meet the needs of London." Christopher Walker, land acquisition director at Fairview New Homes, said: "The most important element for a successful scheme is looking at the individual potential of each site. The GLA's comment seems to indicate that they understand this and are prepared to take a more realistic approach." Livingstone's comments last September angered the industry. Berkeley managing director Tony Pidgley said the policy would drive housebuilders out of London.

The GLA's conciliatory stance came as the head of the South East England Development Agency warned that the region's housing industry would face a crisis within two years unless housebuilders changed their construction methods.

Seeda chief executive Anthony Dunnett said housebuilders had to invest in off-site manufacturing facilities to build the 30,000 houses required in the region every year.

He said: "They're not looking at it at the moment because they've got enough landbank, but in two years they are going to hit a brick wall."