The City of London Corporation has strongly criticised a Government direction requiring further examination of its City Plan 2040, calling the move ‘unnecessary and anti-growth.'
The Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP, has asked for additional hearing sessions on the assessment of tall buildings and their impact on the Tower of London World Heritage Site, before Planning Inspectors issue their final report.
‘My aim here is to seek reassurance that the City Plan does everything it can to protect the Tower adequately against the risk of unsuitable or harmful development whilst not unduly restricting economic growth,’ he wrote.
The Corporation argues this issue was already scrutinised in full during examination hearings held over a year ago.
Planning and Transportation Committee chairman Tom Sleigh said the intervention risked stalling growth, investment and jobs, with developers and investors facing prolonged uncertainty.
‘To send a complete, ready-to-adopt plan back for more hearings on a settled point is the wrong call, and the cost will be missed economic growth. It beggars belief,’ he added.
