Is Sadiq Khan's money saving plan to move out of City Hall going nowhere?

File photo dated 7/9/2015 of London's City Hall. London's government could move from City Hall as part of an effort to fill a �500 million black hole in the capital�s finances.
City Hall, the GLA's riverside HQ

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 Crystal building in London's Docklands

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.'