Lewisham’s Green council has forced Landsec to pull out of shovel-ready plans to redevelop the shopping centre after objecting that it did not contain enough social homes. This is real-time evidence of the damage socialism does to an economy, says Alys Denby
The Greens are the worst extremists in British politics.
It’s not only their vile ‘Zionism is racism’ policy and commitment to “a single democratic state throughout historic Palestine” – though this in itself puts the party well beyond the pale. It is a de facto commitment to the destruction of Israel, a position not even taken by the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which remains committed to a two-state solution. So twisted is the logic of these ideologues that one of their number, Ashok Kumar, argued on the BBC that opponents of the motion were themselves antisemitic because they conflate Zionism with Judaism. It is no defence that fewer than one per cent of Green Party members voted for this racist motion when their own structures enable and encourage entryism and their leader didn’t even turn up to vote. For his part, Zack Polanski says he would amend – though not completely reject – this policy because “it is for Israel and Palestine to decide”. That’s pathetic.
But it is at least a comfort that, even if the Greens do get into power in a rainbow coalition of City AM’s nightmares, they will have no influence at all on the Middle East. The same can’t be said of London boroughs unfortunate enough to have Green councils. One of these is Lewisham, where Landsec has this week pulled out of redeveloping one of the capital’s grottiest 1970s shopping centres, citing the Green mayor’s opposition. Liam Shrivastava objected that the plans did not contain enough homes for social rent, so instead of the 300 social homes Landsec was going to build Lewisham will get none.
Work was due to start on the £1.5bn project next year after being approved by the previous Labour council. It was going to feature a music venue, 661 student rooms, 445 co-living spaces, new public spaces and a rooftop meadow as well as 98 social houses and 231 discounted properties for key workers. This is in a borough where 11,284 households are on the waiting list for a home.
No homes instead of new homes
In an email quoted in the Greenwich Wire, the company said: “Recent statements from Lewisham Council also make clear that the administration is not able to support the next phase of land assembly needed to unlock the redevelopment of the shopping centre without a significant increase in affordable housing. This would require a material change to the proposals we originally put forward. This position, combined with the exceptionally difficult economic conditions, mean that we no longer see a sufficiently certain route to delivery and have taken the difficult decision to deprioritise the redevelopment of Lewisham Shopping Centre.”
This is not just a blow for Lewisham but for all of London. Why would any developer go through the expensive and needlessly complex process of securing planning permission when a capricious council can get in the way at the very last minute? London’s biggest housebuilder Berkeley Homes has already said it will no longer invest in new sites following the rejection of its proposals for the Aylesham Centre by Southwark’s Green and Liberal Democrat council. Now it is clear that Greens would rather have no housing than new housing, how many others will follow suit?
There could hardly be a clearer demonstration of the damage that socialism does to an economy. As well as social housing targets that even Sadiq Khan has acknowledged are unviable, the Greens want rent controls, wealth taxes, executive pay caps, renationalisation of major industries and a four-day working week. These ideas have failed everywhere they have been tried. Theirs is not a manifesto but a prescription for poverty.
It should not surprise us that a party so impervious to logic and evidence also finds itself susceptible to the oldest hatred.
Alys Denby is opinion and features editor of City AM