Comment

Unpicking the next steps for the Draft London Plan

Following the October publication of the Inspector’s Report [1] to the London Plan examination, the small matter of the General Election announcement has muddied the waters even further, and most likely signalled further delay in the next steps of the Draft London Plan adoption given wider political flux.

To refresh, the headlines from the Inspector’s Panel Report to the London Plan recommended the following revisions to the plan, which are currently under deliberation at the Mayor’s office:

• Green Belt review: The Plan’s blanket opposition to Green Belt development has been found to be inconsistent with national policy, and as such the Report advises a Green Belt review in the next iteration of the London Plan, based on significant collaborative working.
• Housing delivery and small sites: The Report recommends a significant reduction in both the small sites housing delivery target, and the overall housing target by almost 20% (from 649,000 to 522,850 dwellings for the 10 year period).
• Industrial land: The Report advises that the London Plan may need to allocate significant additional land for industrial use, potentially including Green Belt land.
• Heathrow: The Report recommends the inclusion of the potential Heathrow expansion in the indicative list of transport schemes, and recommends the deletion of the Mayor’s Policy T8 on airports.
• Affordable housing: The threshold approach to affordable housing (as already exists in the SPG) is supported.
• Town centres: There is support for the intensification of town centres as a key focus of growth and delivery, particularly those with strong connectivity.

Beyond these headlines, the Report also obviously recommends that all minor and suggested changes put forward this year should be incorporated when the Plan is finalised. In our earlier analysis, we commented on the paradox of high delivery expectations against cumulative policy expectations, and that ‘good growth’ may in fact end up being ‘not much growth’, which is reflected in parts of the Panel’s report.

The GLA has stated that they intend to respond to the Secretary of State, commenting on the Panel’s recommendations by the end of the year. Beyond that, there is only uncertainty given party pledges on Heathrow (Labour have indicated they would scrap the potential expansion), the review of HS2, and uncertainty around the future of Green Belt policy. There is then, of course, the Mayoral election also coming next May. In the meantime one can expect the draft London Plan to be given even greater weight by the GLA in determining planning applications. Watch this space.

For more information on the Draft London Plan please contact Laurence Brooker or Ben Wrighton.

13 November 2019

[1] https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/planning/london-plan/new-london-plan/inspectors-report