Welcome to building. This site uses cookies. Read our policy. That is the theory, anyway. And not just the government. So, what does the construction industry and its clients have to fear or hope for from the mayor?
The answer seems to depend on what you do for a living. Developers, in particular, fear more of those embarrassing last-minute planning hitches that put foreign firms off building in the capital.
We hope the mayor for London will have better things to do than mess around with our planning process. This may mean, for example, that we will see housing schemes of units instead of , and City office blocks of 74 m instead of 75 m. But while many of the mayoral candidates have expressed such aspirations, their first priority has to be tackling crime, sorting out the Tube and traffic congestion and reducing unemployment.
It is thought that many people will vote for Livingstone just to have fun watching Red Ken bait the pinky-blue Blairite control freaks at Westminster.
However, Livingstone may have to take a more consensual approach to the mayoralty. The fear of this aggravation will no doubt cause other voters to steer clear of Livingstone, although many are unmoved by the other candidates. Nobody who had anything to lose would stand for mayor because nobody knows if they will be able to get things done or how they will be treated by government.
