Sir Sadiq Khan’s dramatic pledge to “actively explore” the release of Green Belt land for new housing has inevitably hogged headlines as the Mayor launched his initial public consultation on updating his London Plan, the development blueprint for the capital. As leading planning KC Zack Simons commented, the outcome of Khan’s review will be “absolutely mission-critical”, not just for the government’s wider housing ambitions but also for “our shared national prosperity for the next couple of decades”.
It’s an ambitious and brave call by Khan, which includes the suggestion of large-scale developments of 10,000 or more homes on previously sacrosanct land. It wasn’t unexpected, though: the Mayor signalled his new approach at the Enfield Local Plan examination in January, proposing an “illustrative” 12,000 home scheme on a Green Belt site where the council itself had suggested 9,000.
The Mayor is likely to have Bromley, Havering and Hillingdon in his sights too – their section of the Green Belt make up more than half of Greater London’s total. And Khan may also be looking beyond the city. Green Belt land around the capital is more than three times the size of the city itself, stretching from Reading to Southend and from Tunbridge Wells to Milton Keynes. There may be opportunities, Khan suggests, for “joint work” with neighbouring regions.
His review will not cover London’s separately-desginated Metropolitan Open Land (MOL), the parks, playing fields and other spaces making up 10 per cent of the city area and currently enjoying the same protection from development as the Green Belt.
MOL is seen as becoming more important to the city as more homes are built. But in a move which will please campaigners, including architect Russell Curtis, who have long argued for London’s 94 golf courses to be considered for full or partial development, courses with MOL which are “not accessible to the wider public and have limited biodiversity value” may be redesignated for housing.
There’s plenty more of interest too in the Mayor’s 78-page “Towards a new London Plan” consultation document. For a start, it accepts that much of the criticism levelled at the current London Plan – including by Michael Gove – that at more than 500 pages and with some 113 detailed policies, it was itself hindering development. A slimmer, more flexible and more “strategic” plan is promised.
The Green Belt initiatives notwithstanding, it will make it clear that “brownfield first” remains Khan’s policy for new development. The “extraordinary challenge” of the government’s 88,000 new homes a year target will mean “increased density” of development too, in town centres and on smaller sites as well as on the big schemes. That means taller buildings, perhaps with a city-wide approach instead of leaving boroughs to decide on suitable areas for them, and a possible new definition of “tall”, changing from the current seven storeys to 10 or even 20.
To make those complex brownfield developments viable – and perhaps to keep developers interested as “greenfield” sites become available too – Khan will also review his 35 per cent affordable housing rules for larger developments. The new plan is also set to clamp down on boroughs setting higher targets. In practice, the document says, these result in fewer affordable homes being built, not more.
The current plan’s list of 47 “opportunity areas”, predominately brownfield locations with the potential to deliver the most homes and jobs, will also be updated, pointedly removing some where the transport links needed to “unlock” development are yet to materialise. “Many of the homes and jobs planned in the opportunity areas can only be realised if the transport infrastructure is built,” the document says, in a clear hint to Whitehall as next month’s spending review is finalised.
In another policy change, the current London Plan’s protections for designated industrial land may be relaxed to allow housing instead, particularly where land suitable for housing could be “swapped” with land in the “grey belt” where development is not restricted to housing only.
The city’s Central Activities Zone – broadly, the West End, the Square Mile and the Canary Wharf area – could see its boundaries changed too. This would consolidate the zone’s “unique concentrations of employment, business, culture, and night-time uses”, including allowing more hotels, while excluding more residential areas which could then “play a greater role in housing delivery,” including converting “lower grade” offices. City Hall, it seems, is joining the City Corporation in betting on high end offices rather than a more “mixed use” approach to the business district post-Covid.
Perhaps the biggest change, beyond the Green Belt plans, could be in the city’s 240 town centres and 600 high streets. Instead of the current rigid definitions restricting uses, a more flexible approach will be taken, aiming to keep the high streets at the centre of “London’s economic and civic life” by allowing a wider range of businesses, services, leisure and cultural uses, as well as housing and even light industry.
Finally, the likely increased use of drones and “flying taxis” to deliver goods and services will make the “advanced air mobility” sector an area “the next London Plan will need to say more on”.
Consultation on this initial document runs until 22 June, with a survey online, engagement events on 29 May and 12 June, and more planned. Full details here. The first draft of the new plan will be published for statutory consultation in 2026.
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