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Moped kills cyclist
The Standard reports a cyclist in Hammersmith’s part-segregated Cycleway 9 was hit by a moped and died. LCC CEO Tom Fyans criticised the cycleway design which allows mopeds to enter it.
This is the sixth cyclist death this year and TfL is raising awareness of Highway Code rules.
An illegal e-bike boom article in the Guardian reported some of them capable of 70mph.
Hogarth roundabout tall building
The ‘Chiswick Calendar’ website reports that residents are taking their objections to a proposed high development alongside Hogarth roundabout at 1 Burlington Lane to the Mayor. They claim it would harm Chiswick House and Grounds, Hogarth’s House, several conservation areas, local views and the Kew WHS Royal Botanical Gardens. Hounslow Council’s Planning Committee gave the development the go-ahead despite only 6% affordable housing.
![SUVs in street [Photo: freepik.com]](https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/153436.jpg?fit=1500%2C1000&ssl=1)
Increase in SUVs
The Assembly’s Transport Committee is calling for more to be done to discourage SUV car use after their number increased ten-fold in London since 2002.
There is an article in BBC News on this subject.
The vehicles tend to be heavier, larger and more polluting than other cars. Imperial College London found that if hit by an SUV compared to being hit by a smaller car you are 44% more likely to be killed. For children it’s 82% as the taller, blunter bonnets means they are more likely to be [more…]
Homes on Green Belt
The OnLondon news channel is one to which London Forum recommends its members should subscribe. Its edition here includes a review of the progress of review of LB Enfield’s new Local Plan. It promotes the use of Green Belt land for housing and the arguments for and against that will be considered by the Inspector in the examination’s stage three in October 2025.
There are other news items of interest in the OnLondon website including an Earls Court special, details of proposals to address use of mobile phones [more…]
High quality design
As the Planning and Infrastructure Bill makes its way through Parliament, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has lodged an amendment to the Bill to ensure design quality is at the heart of new development.
The amendment requires spatial development strategies, such as the London Plan, to include a design vision for the strategy area that meets the practical needs of residents and communities, and reflects the principles of safety, sustainability and accessibility.
Right to Buy sales
The Government published figures in a report for the number of social homes sold, the number replaced and the receipts for LPAs.
Annual eligible sales in London peaked at 4,000 in 2014 and declined after that as discounts were reduced, although receipts from sales remained high.
Replacement properties for those sold have increasingly failed to meet the one-for-one target since 2017-18, as described in the report, and some reasons are suggested.
Chief Planner’s update
On 19th August 2025 Joanna Averley, the MHCLG Chief Planner issued an update to planners in local authorities on recent Government planning proposals, a faster Local Plan system, reform of the Statutory Consultee system, planning fees, a consultation on electricity network infrastructure and a survey on the use of digital Design Codes.
The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) has produced a toolkit to help councils review their planning committees.
Assembly Affordable Housing report
The London Assembly Housing Committee published a report on affordable housing delivery. It shows that, as of March 2025, starts had been made on 5,200 new homes compared with a target of a minimum of 17,800.
Details and comments are at
London Assembly affordable housing monitor 2025.
Savills: Challenges for affordable housing delivery in London.
Rhys Williams: Politics and market reality are worlds apart.
Funding for Councils
London Councils, representing all local authorities in London, is urging the government to ensure its Fair Funding Review 2.0 proposals distribute funding to local authorities fairly and efficiently on the basis of need. London Councils’ analysis here highlights serious issues within the Government’s proposals that risk dramatically underestimating levels of need for local services in London.
London Councils is calling for a more accurate approach to assessing local levels of need, which is key to ensuring available resource matches need, sustaining hard-pressed local [more…]
Living on the streets
TfL have been granted permission to clear a temporary encampment of homeless people on the strip of green land in the centre of Park Lane. The Mayor pledged to end rough sleeping in the capital by 2030, as in the update in July on rough sleeping.
Figures from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) released as here show that almost 4,400 people were “living on the streets” in London from April – June 2025 which is up 26% from the same period last year and more than [more…]
Lime loses e-bike contract
Hounslow Council has sacked Lime as the provider of e-bike services in the borough after a string of complaints from residents. In June 2025 there were nearly 30,000 active Lime users there but a minority of them dumped bikes anywhere.
Forest and Voi will become the borough’s exclusive e-bike operators from Monday 11 August 2025. A report is on the local community website here.