London councils should be given greater autonomy so they can safeguard centres of excellence such as the galleries of Mayfair, Westminster’s planning chief said today.
Councillor Alastair Moss also admitted that attempts to slash planning red tape to stimulate the economy were creating problems in central London.
Mr Moss made the comments after a series of meetings with gallery owners in Mayfair and St James’s.
They say their futures are threatened by soaring rents, following an invasion of upmarket fashion houses.
The Bischoff/Weiss gallery closes this month and others could follow. Westminster is set to decide shortly on making Mayfair a “special policy area” where it could steer development proposals to respect the area’s history.
The tailors of Savile Row have already won similar protection.
But Mr Moss said central government needed to give councils more power, adding: “The cities are saying more and more, why can’t we be trusted more to be masters of our own economic destiny?”
He admitted their hands were tied by “one size fits all” planning policies which were proving “a potential driver of the economic destruction of a very valuable industry” in London’s art market.
“We’re not helped by having an ever-liberalised planning regime,” he said. “The short-term investors are in danger of destroying international brands like Cork Street and Savile Row that we’re conscious we’re custodians of.”
But he said they were working hard to persuade all parties that everyone benefited if traditional businesses survived.
Anna Hunter, who sells work by the Prince of Wales among others at the Belgravia Gallery in Albemarle Street, said they were considering their options and called for government action: “If you want this enclave of great excellence it does mean that you have to look at offering a degree of protection.”
John Martin, who has a gallery nearby, has bought a second space in Chelsea as an insurance policy against future rent rises in Mayfair. He said Westminster was showing “a real commitment” but the issue came down to the Government.
