Member

Amendment 103 was tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Moylan. As he knows, transport in London is devolved, with the mayor responsible for managing the capital’s transport network. It is right, in line with the wider purpose of the Bill, that the mayor should be empowered to consent to operational land disposal applications from TfL. Both the Government and the mayor recognise the need to balance transport, housing and wider strategic considerations, and this clause rightly places responsibility for making that balanced judgment with the mayor, who is accountable for those decisions in London. This goes to the heart of what devolution is intended to achieve, and the Government reject the proposition that somehow the mayor is incapable of making a decision about the best use of land currently under TfL control that might be used for housing.