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Tube HQ sell-off ‘won’t help poor’

Plans to flog the Grade I listed Tube HQ for housing will not benefit enough poorer families, London Assembly Members said yesterday. 

Drawings of the “ambitious” Westminster development by Tate Hindle architects go on display from today at St James’s Park station. 

Transport for London (TfL) said the transformation of the “outdated offices” will raise cash to be reinvested in the transport network. 

And bosses boasted that 22 per cent of flats, including some three-bed properties for social housing tenants, will be “affordable” — defined as 80 per cent of the bloated market rate.

A TfL press release described the development as a “mix of affordable, social and private housing.”

But Labour’s London Assembly group housing spokesman Tom Copley said the development meant more swanky pads for the super-rich. 

He said: “The mayor and Transport for London need to go back and look again at the weighting they are giving to affordable housing on the Broadway development. 

“While we must seek best value for the taxpayer, this shouldn’t mean average people are priced out of the market. 

“With 78 per cent of the homes on this development not affordable that is what will happen.”

Green Party AM Darren Johnson accused the mayor of “selling the family silver” to benefit the city’s richest.

He said: “The mayor is adding fuel to a rising property market by allowing Transport for London to build and sell luxury flats in central London and Earls Court.”

TfL is preparing to sell more of its 5,700-acre property portfolio for housing, retail space and offices in a bid to raise £3.5 billion in non-fare revenue. 

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