London recycling
The Government has published details on recycling in the capital in 2023-24. It shows London’s poor recycling rate has stagnated for 10 years with wide variations in borough recycling rates from 8% to 52%. In 2022 the GLA issued a Guidance Note on recycling which set a target of 50% by 2025.
CPRE (London) has commented on this in a report here.
London devolution
Leaders of 32 London boroughs have called for “a seat at the table” in a new devolution settlement for the capital, as here. They seek similar devolved arrangements to those in Combined Authorities elsewhere under the English Devolution Bill. Boroughs would then have a direct influence over decisions the Mayor of London currently makes without them.
Richard Brown for ONLONDON has commented on it.
The Government has stated in a White Paper for the Bill that there will be a financial settlement for London “while retaining pre-existing bespoke London arrangements…[and] existing ways of working with London Councils.”.
Building Safety Levy
A Building Safety Levy on new development to raise £3.4 billion is planned for Autumn 2026 with regulations published this year. Rates per square metre of floor space based on local house prices will be set per local authority area. There will be rates for previously and non-previously developed land (as defined in the NPPF), e.g. in RBK&C £50.17 and £100.35 respectively and in LB Enfield £22.06 and £44.13.
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) has sent a letter signed by over 100 housebuilders to Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling for a suspension of the Building Safety Levy.… Read more...
Chief Planner’s update
Joanna Averley, the DHCLG Chief Planner issued an update to local authority planners in March 2025. It covered details on new policy and guidance, funding for LPAs, The Planning and Infrastructure Bill and the Government’s response to the consultation responses on the Plan Making System.
Climate change and heritage
The Government has released the fourth round of climate adaptation reporting for the heritage sector as here. The report outlines the risks climate change poses to the UK’s historic environment and provides guidance on how heritage organisations can adapt to these challenges. It highlights the need for resilience planning and sustainable conservation strategies.
The new London Plan: Shaping housing for the future: rescheduled
This London Forum/London Society joint event has been rescheduled for May 13th because of a delay in the publication of the supporting GLA paper ‘Towards a London Plan’ – originally due in February.
The details are on the rescheduled event page, and booking is still essential. There are a few more tickets available at UCL as it’s a larger lecture theatre.
If you booked for the original date, you should have been notified of the change by email, with your booking now moved to the new date.… Read more...
Funds for social homes
Government announced £2 billion investment to support social and affordable house building. £400 million of that was allocated to London in addition to £100 million in the budget last autumn. All projects funded will need to start by March 2027 and finish by June 2029. City Hall has been asked to allocate the funds to prioritise social rent homes.
London Councils estimates boroughs spend £4m every day on temporary accommodation. This spending has jumped 68% over the past year and boroughs are forecast to overspend their homelessness budgets by more than £270m in 2024-25, a figure which has doubled over twelve months.… Read more...
Safe as Houses
‘Safe as Houses: Why Investment in Social Housing is Great for Us and Our Economy’ is the title of a publication by Shelter here.
It sets out the economic and fiscal case for investing in social homes and includes analyses of how the housing emergency is damaging our economy. It offers insights into how social housing stimulates productive investment and an efficient labour market.
Polly Neate CBE, Chief Executive Officer, Shelter wrote in a foreword to the document “Unless there is a wish to repeat the neglect of previous parliaments, this government must pull the lever on the essential missing component needed to end the housing emergency: a mass scale investment in social rent homes.… Read more...
Housing supply
The Government updated its housing supply statistics to include an estimate of net additional dwellings between 1 April 2024 and 23 March 2025. Also, an estimate of net additional dwellings since 9 July 2024, to measure progress towards the government’s target to deliver 1.5 million homes during the current parliament. See here.
London Forum on BlueSky @londonforum.org.uk
We’re pleased to announce that The London Forum is now on the BlueSky social media platform. We’re using our domain name as our ‘handle’ for clarity: @londonforum.org.uk and we encourage members to follow us there.
Our latest postings appear on the website as shown in the screenshot below, and we plan to post our news updates and Insights to the service regularly. We’ll also post and re-post other items of interest to the membership as we spot them.… Read more...
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Planning, Environment and Transport committee meeting
📅 Thu 11th June | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)