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Oxford Street pedestrianisation
On Sunday 21st September, Oxford Street was part closed to traffic. Themed zones featuring fashion, sport, music, food and heritage spanned Orchard Street to Oxford Circus.
The Mayor claimed it a success here but the publicity and novelty of the event were likely to result in many people attending.
TfL will consult on traffic and highways changes for pedestrianisation later in 2025.
For businesses, however, the prospect of an accelerated timeline could add to concerns about logistics and access. Bus routes remain one of the biggest challenges and retailers are [more…]
2025 Annual General Meeting
On 16th October, The London Forum held it’s 2025 AGM with two speakers, and a full house of members.
Michael Jubb, our chairman, made opening comments, and introduced the speakers: our patron, Prof. Tony Travers, and guest speaker, Leanne Tritton, chair of The London Society. Each talk was followed by a substantial Question & Answer session addressing prescient topics in depth.
We’ve annotated our AGM event page with photos and recordings of the talks and Q&A sessions, so that you can listen again, or review [more…]
![Nationally Significant Infrastructure People/Process [ Graphic: HMG ]](https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Nationally-Significant-Infrastructure.jpg?fit=1197%2C732&ssl=1)
Reducing infrastructure delays
The Government has issued a news story here on “backing the builders not the blockers”, explaining it will work with the judiciary to cut the amount of time it takes for a judicial review to move through the court system for nationally critical infrastructure projects.
HM Treasury and MHCLG are concerned the delays stunt economic growth by holding back development due to lack of utilities.
Social housing
Past updates under the tag ‘Housing Delivery‘ cover lack of funding for social housing. That subject was covered by our Patron Tony Travers of the LSE and Leanne Tritton of The London Society in talks at our AGM, reported separately.
The lawyer Simon Ricketts examines stalling of building here and proposals from the APPG for London on speeding house building are here.
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
The progress of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill has been slow and just before the Report Stage of the Bill in the House of Lords, the Government put forward amendments to the Bill. One could prevent councils refusing planning permission and another would limit when Natural England should be involved in planning decisions. Richard Harwood KC has commented on some of the proposed amendments.
Reforming Licensing
The government invites views and evidence here UNTIL NOON ON 6TH NOVEMBER 2025 to inform the development of a modern, proportionate and enabling licensing system for alcohol sales. It is to build on the Licensing Taskforce recommendations and the government’s response and to support the Government’s commitment to reduce regulatory burdens by 25% by the end of this Parliament. Responses should be made online.
Chief Planner’s update
On 7th October Joanna Averley, the MHCLG Chief Planner issued an update letter to planners in local authorities on 2025 Housing Design Awards, New Towns (two in London), consultation on infrastructure planning reforms and flood risk assessment. MHCLG has published its response to the compulsory purchase consultation.
London Forum members should consider the content of the letter and review implications with their Council.
Haringey Social Work
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) reported 1,100 unread emails in Haringey Council’s social work inbox “including 500 police reports”.
Lucia das Neves, the council’s health, social care and wellbeing Cabinet Member said: “We recognise the seriousness of the findings and fully accept that mistakes were made, for which we apologise.”
The death of Baby P in 2007 saw the council heavily criticised over safeguarding failures.
Construction Adviser appointed
A new interim Chief Construction Adviser, Thouria Istephan, was appointed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 30th September 2025.
MHCLG states that “Thouria will play a central role helping to shape the future of the built environment sector, ensuring that safety, delivery and accountability are central to decision-making, with residents’ voices at heart.”
Details are here.
![Phone snatch [ Photo: Met police ]](https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/phone-snatch.jpg?fit=990%2C552&ssl=1)
Street crime
A Policy Exchange report covered street crime in London and made seventeen recommendations.
Knife crime in London increased by 58.5% between 2021 and 2024 and only 1 in 20 robberies and 1 in 170 “theft person” crimes in the capital were solved last year;
60% of the knife crimes were robberies with over 81,000 mobile phones stolen;
20 streets near Oxford Circus and Regent Street had more knife crime than 15% of the rest combined.
Consultation for next London Plan
The GLA has published an ‘Easy Read’ version here of an earlier ‘Towards a New London Plan‘. It explains the need to deliver more homes and related problems. The consultation seeks views on that and various options for land use, jobs, environment and cultural facilities. London Forum’s members should consider responding by the closing date of 2nd November 2025 to influence the content of the draft replacement London Plan due in 2026.
Housing delivery – THF
The Housing Forum (THF) has published useful reports. One assessed Progress at July 2025 towards 1.5 m new homes target. Another in September 2025 is Barriers to housing delivery. It identifies challenges bringing housing delivery almost to a halt and offers solutions to financial constraints, planning complexities, regulatory pressures, workforce capacity and efficiency of working practices. The Government, the next London Plan and London’s local authorities will need policies to address those issues.