The skyline in central London and the West End could be blighted by tall buildings if Ken Livingstone wins new planning powers, Westminster City Council warned today.

Areas around Victoria, Paddington, Tottenham Court Road and Chelsea Barracks have been identified as ‘opportunity areas’ in the Mayor's London plan which will ‘deliver ... where appropriate, tall buildings’.

Livingstone is set to be granted planning powers that will allow him to overrule the local authority on buildings which he considers ‘strategic’. Decision-making on tall buildings in Westminster is currently handled by the city council.

Westminster says it rejects the Mayor's claims that tall buildings are a necessity for the economy or urban regeneration. ‘[We are] deeply concerned that he could end up with complete control over a number of key future development sites in Westminster’, it said in a statement today.

The council has also written to housing minister Yvette Cooper expressing concern about the GLA Bill.

Westminster says London Mayoral involvement in planning applications is ‘often too time consuming, too detailed, and does not involve purely strategic schemes’.

In particular, the council says it fears the proposals for 50-storey twin towers at Victoria Station would break the currently uninterrupted roofline of Parliament as seen from the Albert Embankment.

Councillor Robert Davis, Cabinet Member for Planning, said: ‘We accept that the opportunity areas identified in Westminster such as Victoria, Paddington, Tottenham Court Road and Chelsea Barracks provide significant potential for growth.

‘But Westminster - as the heart of London - has a thriving economy in its own right and growth can be accommodated without the need for skyscrapers.

‘As a council we believe we should have the power to decide what is built in Westminster.’