London Local Plan Watch - Spring 2024

Despite the Mayor being directed by the Secretary of State to take further action on London’s housing plan, City Hall has recently announced an additional Housing Kickstart Fund and has committed significant sums to building 76,000 new homes on brownfield sites.

The current rate of housing delivery does not meet the 2017 Housing Land Availability Assessment potential of over 460,000 homes by 2041 and there are calls for the London Plan Policies to be reviewed.

In the lead up to both the Mayoral and General Elections, we are seeing Local Plans move along tentatively, although the number of Local authorities that have moved to consultation on an initial draft or submission draft has risen. Barking & Dagenham, Barnet, City of London, Croyden, Kensington & Chelsea, Lewisham and Merton are progressing towards a submission version or close to adoption. Bromley, Camden, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Haringey, Harrow, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Newham, Richmond upon Thames and Tower Hamlets have or are undertaking Regulation 18 or 19 consultation.

The position is promising compared to recent years, following a slow but steady period of cabinet approvals throughout London over the Autumn/Winter period of 2023.

Approximately half of all London Boroughs have Local Plans that were adopted in the last five years, although not all of them can demonstrate a Five-Year Housing Land Supply. Those shown in red on the accompanying graphic are early in the process of preparing new plans and may have opportunities for site submissions.

Despite the positive movement, the sheer volume of housing required by the London Plan is having a profound impact on housing land supply figures, and the constraint of the Green Belt and the lack of larger scale strategic opportunities in the capital is impacting the ability to meet supply requirements. Local Planning Authorities are being forced to apply additional stages of public and internal engagement to meet the requirements ahead of submission.