What’s Happening to London’s Population?
An Historical Introduction
London’s population peaked in the 1930s, reaching about 8.6 million in 1939. For the next half century it fell steadily, to 6.8 million in the 1980s, before beginning to rise again, to over 9.1 million now. But the experiences of inner London (broadly, the area governed by the London County Council (LCC) from 1889 to 1963) and of outer London (broadly, the areas added to the county when the Greater London Council (GLA) was created in 1965) have differed greatly.… Read more...
Great British Railways consultation launched
The government has at last launched a formal consultation on the creation of Great British Railways (GBR), several years after the launch of the Williams Review in 2018 that ended up as the Williams-Shapps report in 2021 recommending a GBR.
Although the previous Conservative governments gave oral support to a proposal which bore the name of their transport secretary, the closest they came to implementing it was a dummy Bill, a kind of dress rehearsal for what might become the real thing before the script had been written.… Read more...
Balancing quality and quantity to deliver 1.5m homes
This article was first published in Housing Today.
The government – and housebuilders – must be given the best possible chance of achieving its ambitious target writes Ben Derbyshire
Nobody wants new homes built nearby because what housebuilders do looks horrible and inevitably overwhelms local infrastructure – right? Well, hold on. How else can the government achieve its target of a million and a half new homes within the life of this parliament?
According to the 2024 Competition & Markets Authority report, in 2021-22 the largest 11 speculative housing developers together supplied around 40% of new homes built.… Read more...
Website and communications improvements
Since volunteering to take on management of London Forum’s website and email communications in November, having become a Trustee at the 2024 AGM, I’ve been making a few improvements, with a few more in the pipeline.
The aim has been to:
- Better present the information the Forum already has.
- Improve the way we present news and other material in future.
- Improve news emails, and make them more regular.
- Integrate the various strands of news that the Forum produces, so that they can be communicated in a consistent and more digestible way, to members and farther afield.
Didn’t find what you’re looking for? Try a new search:
Latest News
Culture funding
The DCMS £270m ‘Arts Everywhere Fund’ includes £15m for repairing Heritage at Risk and a new £4.85m Heritage Revival Fund. There is also an £85m ‘Creative Foundations Fund’ for capital works to venues, £25m for capital works to museums via the ‘Museum Estate and Development Fund’, £120m for capital works to DCMS-sponsored bodies via the ‘Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund’, and £3.2m for cultural education including the ‘Heritage Schools Programme’.
Infrastructure Strategy
The Government has set out its working paper for developing a 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy which seeks to bring together a plan for the country’s social, economic and housing infrastructure. The Strategy will also describe an institutional framework to support its implementation, including setting out the role of public financial institutions and how the Strategy will support other strategies, such as the industrial strategy.
Environment improvement
There is a statement from DEFRA’s Secretary of State, Steve Reed, providing an update on the rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) launched on 30 July 2024. It sets out key strategic findings from the rapid review and plans for revising the EIP.
Latest Insights
What’s Happening to London’s Population?
An Historical Introduction
London’s population peaked in the 1930s, reaching about 8.6 million in 1939. For the next half century it fell steadily, to 6.8 million in the 1980s, before beginning to rise again, to over 9.1 million now. But the experiences of inner London (broadly, the area governed by the London County Council (LCC) from 1889 to 1963) and of outer London (broadly, the areas added to the county when the Greater London Council (GLA) was created in 1965) have differed greatly.… Read more...
Our Diary
-
Planning, Environment and Transport committee meeting
📅 10th April 2025 | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)
-
The New London Plan: Shaping Housing for the Future
📆 23rd April 2025 | 18:30 - 20:45
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)Many communities in London are concerned about future development that could change that character of their much-loved areas, whether by the scale, density or height of new building. This event will leave us all much better informed about the shape of the next ten years. Free for London Forum members, but booking is essential ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/events/the-new-london-plan-shaping-housing-for-the-future#booking ). Chair: Ben…
-
Member Services Committee meeting
📅 24th April 2025 | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)