Labour steps in to halt latest Tory tower

A couple of weeks ago I reported on the Evening Standard's devastating expose of Boris Johnson's U-turn over tower blocks. The Standard noted how, despite the Tory pledge in last year's London Elections not to allow any more high-rise applications, Boris has subsequently broken that pledge over and over again.

One of those broken promises concerned a 23-storey tower planned for Ealing Broadway, an area - like Putney - without any similar high rise buildings. Today, the Standard is reporting that the Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, has "called-in" the Ealing skyscraper which Boris approved. All I can say is: thank goodness London's Mayor isn't the last resort on issues like this.

It's worth noting that at 23 storeys, the Ealing tower is just about HALF the size of one of the the Ram Brewery towers the Conservatives here forced through in December.