Newham leader attacks west London boroughs

In an open letter, Sir Robin said every borough must take responsibility for providing social and affordable housing and that he was ”deeply concerned” about the lack of commitment to social housing in the west of London.

The letter said: “London is a tale of two cities. For a leading world city, there are serious inequalities between east and west which should not exist in the 21st century. This is a disgrace and a major obstacle to the progress of the city as a whole.”

The letter follows the council’s as yet resolved negotiations with London mayor Boris Johnson about how many affordable houses it needs to build.

The letter is below in full:

London is a tale of two cities. For a leading world city, there are serious inequalities between east and west which should not exist in the 21st century. This is a disgrace and a major obstacle to the progress of the city as a whole. 

We require a first-class capital, not a two-tier city. I am deeply concerned that a lack of commitment to social housing in the west could achieve the latter. Newham is absolutely committed to providing social housing and we welcome the Government’s recent announcement to give greater flexibility to local authorities and build more affordable homes.

Communities across London should be mixed by class, ethnicity and tenure. Every borough must take responsibility for providing both social housing to ensure that work pays and affordable housing so that more people are given the opportunity of homeownership.

If housing policy forces the exportation of poverty to certain areas of the capital, we let down both residents and our aspiration to be a world class city. Just as we must avoid ghettoised and deprived estates, so must we resist wholesale gentrification through exporting poverty. This would undermine community cohesion, create a two-tier city and prevent east London from ever fully contributing to our local and national economy.

As well as providing adequate housing, local authorities need to provide for the whole range of services needed to end poverty. Worklessness in our area which is almost double the London average.

However, we do more than pay lip service to the problem. We offer intensive assistance to unemployed residents through our employment service Workplace. My Employment Project helps the long term unemployed overcome their barriers to work and offers a personal guarantee that they will not be worse off in work. We are committed to ensuring local people get the opportunities they have previously been denied so that all Newham’s residents can fully benefit from the exciting regeneration of the borough.

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