Sadiq Khan to take over planning authority on controversial 20-storey office block
By Joe Talora, local democracy reporter
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan will take over as the local planning authority on the controversial application to build a 20-storey office block.
The application from Hondo Enterprises to build the tower in Pope’s Road, Brixton, was originally approved by Lambeth Council in November 2020 and was given the go-ahead by Sadiq Khan in December.
But the Mayor of London last month announced that his decision “should be of no effect” and the planning process should start again as he had not received all the relevant information regarding opposition to the tower.
Now, Sadiq Khan has said that the application “warrants my closer scrutiny” and he will take over from Lambeth Council, with a public hearing due to take place that will hear from both Hondo Enterprises and opposition groups.
Local campaigners uniting under the banner #FightTheTower have been pushing for the Mayor of London to stop the tower going ahead for several months now, and in December said they felt “misled” and “ignored”.
But this week, a spokesperson for the group said they were “glad that Sadiq Khan has now taken this decision out of Lambeth Council’s hands”.
The spokesperson for #FightTheTower said: “This tower will be a monument to gentrification and profiteering over investment.
“20 floors of soulless offices, for which there may be no demand after Covid, will tower over locals in an area that needs investment in youth services, homes, and the people who made Brixton what it is.
“Every Brixton resident opposed to this outrageous tower deserves to be heard, and we are glad that Sadiq Khan has now taken this decision out of Lambeth Council’s hands after they failed to listen to the people of Brixton.”
The GLA’s final stage two report into the Hondo Tower application reveals that it would “have some adverse effects” on heritage sites and “the character of the local area”.
It also found that the tower “would be contrary” to certain parts of the London Plan, but that overall it complied with the plan as a whole.
Pictured top: An artist’s impression of the new Hondo Tower block
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