Greater London

London borough councils have raced forward with local plan adoptions following the December 2024 revision of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

Prior to the new NPPF, Mayor Sadiq Khan emphatically claimed that housebuilding in London was “on its knees”, predominantly due to the lack of affordable housing available. The recent £2bn boost to provide grants to councils and housing associations to build new properties will cover around 12% of the cost of new affordable homes in London on average. This is compared to 75% in 1990. In addition, starts on site for London affordable housebuilding over the last year has plummeted.

However, there is much to be optimistic about, as new local plan adoptions concentrate on the provision of affordable housing in line with the London Plan. Since our last update in Autumn 2024, Barnet and Merton have adopted their new local plans, establishing visions for growth and development of new housing. City of London, Croyden, Ealing, Enfield, Harrow, Hounslow, Lewisham, Richmond upon Thames and Waltham Forest have all recently submitted their local plans for examination or are at examination. These accelerations reflect the positive mandate provided to these councils following the general election last year and respond to the housing crisis by allocating a significant amount of land.

Five-Year Land Supply

Key opportunities still exist in boroughs that are at an early and emerging stage of their local plans or are currently undertaking a ‘call for sites’. These include Bromley, Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Hammersmith & Fulham, Havering, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Redbridge and Sutton. However, much like our previous update in Autumn 2024, the overall trend is that there are now less London councils with out-of-date local plans and less with a lower than five-year housing land supply. This indicates that London is coming forward with a structured approach to delivering housing, in line with requirements of the London Plan.