Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick has vowed to to restore “full protection” to the capital’s historic views if he wins May’s elections.
Former top cop Paddick says incumbent Mayor Ken Livingstone has “eroded the protection of our historic views, threatening to obscure our world heritage landmarks. The view of St Paul’s Cathedral dome from Richmond Park is one of the most magical in the world and Ken’s plans threaten to destroy it along with a dozen others.”
Mr Paddick said he would restore the protection for important views which he accused Mayor Livingstone of eroding “to the benefit of his property developers friends”. vowing not to “approve applications for buildings which will damage the traditional view lines.”
Paddick appeared to hint that he would cede some of the Mayor’s planing powers powers, commenting: “The Mayor of London must have strategic responsibility for planning, not tactical interference with the decisions of locally elected representatives.”
“Councillors understand their local areas, their local electors and their local heritage far better than the current out of touch Mayor, sat in his glass ball by the Thames.”
“I will not pick fights with councils of a different political colour over individual planning decisions. I will rise above party politics and work with local authorities to deliver what is in the interests of all Londoners.”
Damian Hockney AM says
Thin stuff, I’m afraid. You cannot take over a job which has powers and then say you will not exercise them. It is inevitable that Government will put pressure on the Mayor to ensure that certain developments are allowed/not allowed. This is the shadowy area which of course has never been properly examined – these powers have been removed from local authorities and handed upwards to a centralising Mayor dependent upon the Government for much of his/her money…he who pays the piper can call the tune. I am astonished at how commentators and other candidates fail to understand the role of central government in all of this. Just because the Mayor has a go over Iraq or post office closures does not mean that he ploughs his own furrow on running London.