Boris Johnson under fire for 'delegating planning decisions to unelected adviser'

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Local Government

The new Mayor of London Boris Johnson appeared today not to know who is making 'critically important' decisions on his behalf.

That was the view of Labour members in the London Assembly who asked if it was appropriate that he should delegate strategic planning decisions to an 'unelected, unaccountable' adviser, Mayor Johnson insisted he had not.

Yet since he was appointed two weeks ago, Ian Clements - one of Boris Johnson's deputy mayors - has been writing to London Assembly Members saying "the Mayor has delegated his planning decisions to me".

Labour Assembly Member John Biggs, who pressed the Mayor on the issue today, said: "The Mayor today denied delegating planning powers to his deputy mayor, yet it appears Ian Clements has been making planning decisions for the last two weeks and writing to Assembly Members to tell them so.

"Does the Mayor not know who is making these critical decisions on his behalf? If not, under what authority is Ian Clements working?"

Commenting on Boris Johnson's admission that he "doesn’t have time" to look over individual planning decisions which are of critical importance and effect the daily lives of every Londoner, John Biggs said: "Boris Johnson says he is too busy to make planning decisions.

"I wonder then where he finds the time to continue writing his £250,000 a year Daily Telegraph column?"