In the latest public spat between the two parties, London Mayor Ken Livingstone has defended accusations from Wandsworth politicians that he is a "one man dictatorship".

Wandsworth Council leader Edward Lister said it was a "bad day for local democracy" after Mr Livingstone was given new powers in planning, housing and waste management by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Ruth Kelly.

The mayor will now be able to veto or approve any planning application considered strategic, which would involve large scale developments. London councils, including Wandsworth, will also have to conform to his waste strategy.

A London Mayor spokesman knocked back claims Mr Livingstone was a "dictator" emphasising he was more concerned with providing housing.

He said: "What the new powers do mean is that the Mayor will be able to ensure that more desperately needed homes including more affordable and family sized homes are delivered across the capital where once schemes were blocked at the local level for the wrong reasons."

He also stressed the mayor will not use the powers to ride roughshod over local opinion by granting permission for domineering buildings.

He said: "The Mayor has always said that tall buildings are likely to be built in small clusters, like Canary Wharf, where the surrounding infrastructure can support them. Since elected as Mayor only a limited number have actually been approved."

The response is the latest in a series of public tensions between the Tory-dominated Wandsworth Council and the Labour Mayor.

Only last year, the mayor came under fire from Wandsworth Council for power grabbing when he tried to seize control of Wandsworth's and neighbouring authorities waste management.

The Mayor, claiming he could improve efficiency and recycling, wanted a single rubbish authority under his control rather than the current London waste management structure, which is split into regions.

His trumpeting of the police safer neighbourhoods teams has also been criticised by Wandsworth's ruling Conservative group, who say it heavily consists of officers taken away from other borough posts rather than fresh faces.