Chief Planner’s update
On 24th November 2025 Joanna Averley, the MHCLG Chief Planner, issued an update letter to planners in local authorities on speeding up development within walking distance of well-connected train and tram stations. See related Forum update of 26th November.
The update covered many other changes including Local Plans; LPA skills and resources; a new call-in when councils are likely to decline applications for 150 homes or more; removing the requirement for public inquiries for called-in applications; reducing statutory consultation and removing Sport England, The Gardens Trust and Theatres Trust from the list of consultees.… Read more...
Household Projections and Housing Targets
The latest projections from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that between 2022 and 2032, the number of households in England is expected to grow from 23.5 million to 25.9 million, an increase of 10.3%. That is equivalent to an average of 242,000 additional households per year. Nearly two-thirds of that increase will come from households headed by someone over 65 years old. Rates of increase will be much lower for households headed by someone under retirement age.… Read more...
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NLA Award Winners
The NLA Awards 2025, honour the people, places and projects that show in their developments high quality design, positive social impact and environmental responsibility. The details are here.
The City of London won the planning team award and LB Lambeth was the borough of the year. Schemes for Neasden Town Centre, Canning Town, Eden Dock and Brent Cross Town won awards.
Comments on the awards by London Forum’s members are welcome here.
E-petitions to Parliament
An e-petition is an online petition to the House of Commons or the Government, started by a member of the public on the e-petitions website.
The video below explains how e-petitions work, from starting a petition to what happens when it reaches 10,000 or 100,000 signatures.… Read more...
Green spaces protection
The Government wants to understand and identify the needs of dedicated, local community groups which champion and care for a parks and other open spaces and waterways.
If London Forum members carry out any of that work or know of local amenity groups that do so, there is an invitation to complete a green space survey which has been commissioned by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Housebuilding around train stations
Housebuilding near well-connected train stations will receive a default “yes” through a new National Planning Policy Framework, to be consulted on later in 2025. Details are here.
In addition, there is a set of changes to the Planning & Regeneration Bill, which the Government says is a “Pro-growth package unshackling Britain to get building”.
As part of it, Councils must inform Government when inclined to block applications of 150 homes or more. Ministers will make the decision instead.… Read more...
Renters’ Rights Act 2025 implementation roadmap
Further to London Forum’s recent update on the Renters’ Rights Act, the Government has published a roadmap with detail on how the reforms will be phased.
It will mean the end of fixed-term tenancies and the abolition of section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions from 1st May 2026. The six-month wait means landlords looking to exit the sector may sell up before then, forcing out tenants and indirectly pushing up rents in the process.
In late 2026 there will be a database of all PRS properties.
Interactive member map
We’ve added a new interactive member map to appropriate web pages, based on membership data provided by societies. Try it out live here (the image in this article is necessarily a static screenshot for publication). You can zoom in, and click on any of the blobs representing societies – the size of which represents membership – and review the data we show, including clickable links to member websites – example illustrated.
If you spot errors in location (an approximation in a handful of cases), or the membership information, please let us know. … Read more...
Pathways to Planning
Joanna Averley, MHCLG Chief Planner, announced a programme to get graduate planners or surveyors into local authorities. Applications are now open. All graduates hired receive an educational bursary of £10,000 to help fund their part-time study while they work. Local authorities with high housing delivery and local plan requirements will be considered for salary bursaries of £40,000 when requesting a graduate planner.
A YouTube video about the scheme was issued.
Statutory Consultee reform
The Government has issued a consultation until 13th January 2026 on reform of the statutory consultee system.
This consultation covers the following proposals:
- removing statutory consultee status from certain bodies
- reviewing the scope of what statutory consultees advise on
- improving performance management across existing statutory consultee bodies in the planning system
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Cost-of-living crisis
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Low cost solar panels
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Will the next London Plan rise to the city’s real challenges?
This article was first published in Housing Today.
Ben Derbyshire reflects on Sadiq Khan’s latest policies to boost housebuilding in the capital.
You could be forgiven for thinking, following Sadiq Khan’s volte face on building in the green belt, that Londoners would be all over this issue like a rash. Far from it, if the mood among members of the London Society and the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies at a meeting convened on 13 May is anything to go by.… Read more...
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