Is Sadiq Khan's money saving plan to move out of City Hall going nowhere?
A money saving plan to move politicians and staff out of London's City Hall within a year could be torpedoed by planning rules.
Mayor Sadiq Khan wants to relocate the Greater London Authority to a new site in docklands to save £11m a year.But a senior official admitted planning permission was not guaranteed and the full cost of the move was unclear.The mayor plans to take advantage of a 20-year break clause which allows the GLA to quit its riverside HQ next Summer.The authority would move to The Crystal, a three-storey glass building next to the Royal Docks, in Silvertown, east London.
The scheme needs Newham council planners to approve a 'change of use' before Christmas when the break clause in the City Hall lease expires.GLA chief officer Mary Harpley told London Assembly members the 'nuclear option' would be to stay at City Hall if planners failed to approve the move in time.
Tory assembly member Keith Prince accused officials of an 'amateurish approach.'