Fury over Mayor's housing threat

A Tthreat by Mayor Ken Livingstone to "crush" opponents of his cherished housing schemes brought a furious reaction from borough leaders today.

Town hall chiefs dismissed his charge that they adopt a "not in my backyard" attitude to development.

Two councils, Lambeth and Southwark, rejected an allegation that they had "paralysed" four key London sites.

The Mayor's comments - made in an interview with the Evening Standard on Tuesday - came after he attended a property developers' conference in Cannes last week. He warned that if borough planners stood in the way of attempts to tackle London's housing shortage, he would "crush them".

Mr Livingstone singled out four proposed housing schemes that he claimed had been "paralysed" - Vauxhall Tower and Freeman's in Lambeth, and Potter's Field and Bermondsey Wall West in Southwark.

Critics pointed out that all four schemes involved the same developer, Berkeley Group. A spokesman for the Mayor said he raised the cases after he received a complaint from the company that councils were dragging their feet on planning decisions.

At the London Assembly, Lib-Dem Mike Tuffrey tabled questions to establish how often Mr Livingstone had met with Berkeley executives.

It also emerged that of the four schemes, only two have actually been rejected. Freeman's is still under negotiation between Berkeley and Lambeth while at Bermondsey Wall West, Southwark has approved around 170 homes and only 29 bedsits are in dispute.

The two councils claimed they were being bullied by a Labour mayor because both are Lib-Dem-controlled.

Southwark's deputy leader Caroline Pidgeon said: "I assume this is politicallymotivated." Mr Livingstone's allies sought to play down the row by claiming that the "crush" remark was meant as a "throwaway joke".

Complex planning rules give Mr Livingstone the power to block big housing or office development that councils approve; but he cannot order the go-ahead for schemes rejected locally.