Boroughs launch joint legal challenge against Mayor of London over affordable housing quota cut

Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Lewisham councils are behind the claim. However, seven councils in total are backing the legal action, with Lambeth, Southwark, Waltham Forest and Haringey councils formally supporting the litigation.

The Mayor of London announced plans to reduce the current 35% affordable housing quota in the London Plan in October last year.

However, the three councils, which are joint claimants, say the decision was taken without using the proper statutory process for amending the document.

They also argue that there was a lack of fair consultation before the policy change was made, including a lack of evidence to justify the blanket reduction to 20% affordable housing across all London boroughs.

Lutfur Rahman, the executive mayor of Tower Hamlets, said it was a "scandal" to cut the affordable housing quota, adding: "With seven councils backing this legal action, we are demonstrating the devastating impact this policy would have across London.

"We remain ready to engage constructively with the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority, but we cannot stand by while thousands more Londoners are pushed out of their communities and plunged into poverty and homelessness."

Zoë Garbett, the executive mayor of Hackney, meanwhile said her borough urgently needs more affordable homes.

"Instead we have a Mayor of London doing the opposite – slashing targets, undermining the progress Hackney residents desperately need, and letting developers off the hook."

The Green Party mayor, who recently took control of the council in the May local elections, added: "The Mayor of London is no longer surrounded by councils willing to sign off any developer-driven decision he wants to make. Hackney now has a Mayor who will go to bat for affordable housing.”

Lewisham's executive mayor, Liam Shrivastava, said he understood the challenge the Mayor of London faces in terms of a stalled house building market "and a developer-led model that is broken".

However, he argued the mayor has "provided no justification for these changes, which will undoubtedly reduce the number of affordable homes built in London".

A Mayor of London spokesperson confirmed that a claim for Judicial Review had been issued against the GLA.

"As legal proceedings are ongoing, we are unable to comment further at this stage," it added.

Adam Carey