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Boris Johnson has been accused of showing 鈥渙utrageous disregard鈥� for local democracy after calling in two contentious developments on the edge of the City of London.

The mayor said he would act as final planning arbiter at both Hammerson-Ballymore鈥檚 Bishopsgate Goodsyard and at British Land鈥檚 Norton Folgate.

The mayor has now intervened in a total of 14 cases. Opponents say he has a track record of over-ruling local planning authorities in favour of developers, a charge denied by City Hall.

Hammerson-Ballymore, the joint developers of the goodsyard site which straddles Hackney and Tower Hamlets and includes towers by PLP of 46 and 38 storeys, appealed to Johnson to step in.

They complained the local authorities were taking too long to reach a decision. The planning application was submitted last year and since then the height of the towers has been negotiated down.

The mayor of Hackney, Jules Pipe, said the two boroughs had 鈥渢ried very hard to work constructively with the developers to make them understand how they could make an appalling proposal more acceptable in terms of design and impact鈥�.

He added: 鈥淐alling in this shabby proposal will now allow City Hall to give it the green light, while pointing to some minor amendments they might secure following some cosy chats with the developers.鈥�

As well as PLP, the goodsyard scheme has been designed by Faulkner Browns and Buckley Gray Yeoman.

City Hall said in a statement: 鈥淢ore than a year ago an application was submitted to the local authorities and a formal request has now been made to the mayor to take over as planning authority.

鈥淏ishopsgate Goodsyard, which has stood derelict for over 50 years, is the biggest site around Tech City in east London and would create hundreds of jobs and homes for Londoners. The mayor has decided to call in the application and will consider all of the planning issues before taking a decision in due course.鈥�

John Mulryan of Ballymore welcomed the mayor鈥檚 decision.

Meanwhile, Johnson also called in British Land鈥檚 Blossom Street scheme at Norton Folgate.

Designed by AHMM, DSDHA, Duggan Morris and Stanton Williams, this was thrown out by Tower Hamlets in July after a campaign led by Dan Cruickshank.

Johnson said he was stepping in because it would have a significant impact on the implementation of the London Plan and because he must 鈥渉ave regard to targets identified in development plans鈥�.

He accused Tower Hamlets of presiding over a 鈥渄ecline in the delivery of new office floorspace鈥� and said it was important that 鈥渟trategic office development鈥� in such locations was built to 鈥渟upport London鈥檚 globally competitive business cluster while promoting growth鈥�.

Tim Whittaker of the Spitalfields Trust said: 鈥淲e had planned for this eventuality, which is not unexpected. The battle continues.鈥�