KHOODEELAAR! Told you for years: That ordinary London neither asked for wasteful Crossrail scam, nor could it afford to fund it. We say again: Scrap Crosrail

2040 GMT
London
Saturday
19 December 2009


KHOODEELAAR! Told you for years: That ordinary London neither asked for wasteful Crossrail scam, nor could it afford to fund it. We say again: Scrap Crossrail [To be contionued]

Twitter, to End POVERTY

Boroughs seek regeneration exemption from Crossrail levy

Mark Smulian, Regen.net, 18 December 2009

London boroughs have claimed that regeneration areas should be exempted from the levy that will fund the Crossrail project because the extra cost would make projects unviable or divert money from other schemes.

An examination-in-public is this week taking evidence on mayor Boris Johnson’s proposals for a levy charged on new office buildings of more than 5,000sq feet in the northern part of the Isle of Dogs and the central activities zone (CAZ), as defined in the London Plan, which he described as "the best proxy for central London".

But the City of London Corporation said the zone "was not originally defined for the proposed purpose and it is not clearly related to the Crossrail route" and called for a charge area that more closely followed the line.

The London Borough of Southwark argued that the Elephant and Castle regeneration area was too far from the route to merit inclusion.

It said: "In addition to rendering the regeneration of the Elephant and Castle unviable, the Crossrail charge is likely to stifle all of the office development planned."

Neighbouring Lambeth has secured an exemption for the Vauxhall and Nine Elms area but complained about the inclusion of Waterloo station in the charge zone.

It said this would divert developer contributions to Crossrail that were needed for a £1.5 billion upgrade of the station.

The London Borough of Greenwich called for the exclusion of Woolwich, since the town’s Crossrail station is already to be financed by Berkeley Homes in a planning gain deal.

The London Borough of Hillingdon, meanwhile, called for the exclusion of the area around Heathrow airport.

The examination in public will report next year on whether it accepts Johnson’s proposals.

follow me on Twitter