The City of London is to contribute £200m to delivering the Crossrail project and will seek £150m of contributions from businesses under a new funding agreement announced today.
The deal, announced today by Transport Minister Lord Adonis, Boris Johnson, and Sir Michael Snyder of the City of London Corporation, follows an announcement that the Mayor will consult on proposals that developers contribute to the scheme’s costs.
Johnson wants to use alter the London Plan to allow him to use Section 106 agreements to require developers to make contributions through the planning system, The scheme would apply to all applications for office space above 5,000 square foot in the Central Activity Zone and the northern Isle of Dogs.
The Mayor said the proposals, which are subject to consultation, were “an important part of the funding package” to ensure the project is completed.
Mr Johnson and Lord Adonis have also announced the signing of a series of funding and governance agreements that will underpin the project.
Adonis described the deal with the City as “a landmark moment” and said Crossrail would “create thousands of new jobs, at a time when they are much needed.”
Sir Michael said the project “is absolutely crucial in keeping London and the UK globally competitive and for this reason we are delighted to support the funding of this vitally important new railway.”
This is all fine, but say the recession knocks the stuffing out of these developments. You can take a Section 106 to a development but you cannot make it build one. What happens when the Central Activity Zone becomes the Central Inactivity Zone? It’s like the Olympics and all that lovely private money, a question I asked two years ago at the Assembly. If there isn’t any private money for some reason, what do you do? All those banks sponsoring the Olympics? Banks? I thought they were all bust and turning into nationalised corporations. But then, sigh, that means the Government can lean on them to stump up even if they themselves are billions overdrawn. The Bank of Enron sponsors London 2012 with your money folks.