Andrew Boff, Leader of the Conservatives on the London Assembly, says when it comes to new stock councils should only finance low rise and terraced housing

Housing families in tower blocks does not work. 40,000 families live in such developments in London alone. I argued this week at the London Assembly’s Housing and Regeneration Committee that housing associations and councils should end the practice of putting families in high rise developments.



Why do I believe this? The answer is simple, tower blocks are not conducive to community living. The decision in the 1960s and 1970s to replace traditional terraced housing with new high rise developments was a mistake. For many years I have lived in the East End of London, where historically there has been a real sense of family and community, where you knew who your neighbour was, could swap gossip over the garden fence and look out for each other. Being able to converse on the same level, in the environment of the garden, meant people communicated for all sorts of reasons, and not just complain about noise from above or below, on the landing or on the stairs.