Sadiq Khan's latest plan should have Londoners deeply worried

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The Conservative Party's London Assembly leader has criticised the Mayor's plans for traveller sites

I think Sadiq Khan and the Labour Party have officially lost the plot.

This week it was revealed that in Khan’s new London Plan - the document that determines the rules and regulations for council planning in the capital - there is a target to create a minimum of 900 traveller pitches in London, and more if possible.

The targets are highest on Tory-voting Outer London councils, presumably punishing voters for daring to defy Sir Sadiq.

These rules will make it miles easier for those pitching up illegal traveller sites to retroactively get permission to remain, despite the costs to the local authority for land maintenance or cleaning if the inhabitants decide to move on.

It’ll become a charter for travellers to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, without any regard for what local residents want or care about - and regardless of any legitimate concerns they may have for ecology or social cohesion.

It’s bad enough that Sadiq Khan wants to bulldoze over our parks to put high-rises on them, but now he’s drawing up plans to let the remaining green spaces turn into sites for travellers and travelling show people, all against the wishes of local residents.

Your vote will mean nothing when the Mayor is putting pressure on authorities to meet his target.

I’ll be surprised if any sites end up being pitched in his own neck of the woods!

These plans are currently only a draft, and my Conservative colleagues and I at City Hall are now racing to find out what we can do to fight this appalling suggestion.

I know the impact traveller sites can have on local communities and authorities, and I know how residents feel about this issue.

This can’t be allowed to stand, and I, for one, am hopping mad about it.

If Sadiq Khan thought he was going to get this traveller target through on the sly over the quiet period, then he was wrong.

I know I speak for Londoners when I say that these plans must be opposed before the final London Plan can be approved.

Before we know it, vital green spaces will be turned over to other uses, and residents will be left to deal with the firsthand consequences.

Watch this space - we’re not going to react to this news by just shrugging our shoulders and moving on. Something must change.