I am heart broken that Southwark Council has given planning permission for 500 new luxury flats in Cathedrals ward without a single on-site affordable home. The Labour party think it is a good thing that whole swathes of the north of the borough become gated communities for the super rich. Luxury flats to be sold abroad as foreign investments. Do they think that people on low incomes should not be allowed to live near the river any more? People who were here long before the luxury property developers turned up.

Labour are promising to build council homes elsewhere with the money from this development, but new council homes should be in addition to affordable homes in new developments not instead of them. Otherwise there is no real gain – the developers should be providing affordable homes anyway according to the planning rules. And all new developments wherever they are in Southwark should have a mix of homes – from social rents to shared ownership to privately owned – so that all the wonderful diversity of our borough can be celebrated, not segregated.

Only the Liberal Democrats in Southwark are willing to be tough on developers and demand affordable homes in our communities in return for their super profits at our expense. Have a look here http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/mgListGifts.aspx?UID=189  at the amount of free dinners which the Labour Leader has had from these property developers.

This council must not be on the side of developers who want to maximise profits. It must be on the side of local people who are desperate for more affordable homes in the areas where they have grown up, where they live and work and where their children go to school.