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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
Social and Affordable Homes Programme to 2036
Following the Government’s announcement of the Social and Affordable Homes Programme covered by an earlier update here, the Government has issued a letter to Councils.
It includes details of what is expected from local authorities but it withdraws the new low-interest loans scheme from Councils.
The Minister, Mathew Pennycook MP wrote “I appreciate fully that this news will come as a disappointment. However, having carefully considered the fiscal implications of extending the scheme to councils as well as to registered providers, we reluctantly arrived at the conclusion that it [more…]
New Bakerloo Line ticket hall and lifts at Paddington
Sally Arnold describes in this video why a new Bakerloo line ticket hall at Paddington became possible, why the process was different from the way TfL often operates, the advantages and the challenges, and what benefits the changes bring to the public.
The value of UK’s UNESCO sites
Britain’s World Heritage UNESCO-designated sites cover 14% of the UK’s land area.
A study described here will pioneer new methodologies to understand their value not just in economic terms, but the wider value of local partnerships and collaboration. It should help communities defend the four World Heritage Sites in London by demonstrating their outstanding universal value for use in considering planning applications and other potential causes of harm.
A.R.S Progetti, leading the study, has worked across governance, cultural heritage, education, urban planning, and environmental management.
Inspiration for Community Action
The TCPA has resources for community groups to help make change happen at the local level.
See the various guides and case studies on their website here.
Please let London Forum have your comments on the TCPA facilities and on any local use made of them by completing our contact form.
Hounslow Council’s £240m gamble
A Conservative Councillor in LB Hounslow has challenged its Cabinet on the way in which the Council’s wholly owned company, the Lampton Group, has made £15 million in losses and has been loaned hundreds of millions by the local authority. He says it is leaving taxpayers exposed to mounting financial risk.
Councillor Jack Emsley’s report on this subject was published in a blog in The Chiswick Calendar website
Land Value Capture
The HCLG Committee announced here their Land Value Capture (LVC) report. There is a summary of its 77 pages. The full report covers the scope for LVC, reform to S.106, reform to CIL and the 1.5m housing target. Recommendations are from page 61.
An Epilogue criticises the Government’s Homes for London policy (See an earlier update). The GLA said (page 59) it can result in inflated land values and slow down delivery and the Committee sent a letter to Steve Reed MP.
Homes for Londoners
The NLA produced a manual ‘Homes for Londoners’.
It aims to support delivery of more social rent homes. The study outlines six key actions with a proposal for a Homes for Londoners Impact Fund.
Details and the publication are here.
This initiative must be considered against the Government’s new National Housing Bank and reduction in 35% affordable homes target covered by an earlier London Forum update.
More homes in the City of London
Speakers at a London Society housing event argued the Square Mile could benefit with more people living there.
Charles Wright reported on the meeting in ON LONDON here.
The City’s leader, Chris Hayward, had said most of its housing stock was “in need of substantial regeneration” and there was a need to “build affordable housing for young City professionals”.
Barbican Residents Association chair Jan-Marc Petroschka called for identification of “stranded” offices suitable for conversion.
Renters’ Rights Act
A new Act of Parliament protects renters from ‘no fault’ evictions and gives them the right to end tenancies with two months’ notice.
Shelter produced here advice for private renters and Pinsent Masons issued a guide for landlords here.
Renters will see further reforms to end bidding wars and to stop landlords demanding more than one month’s rent upfront. Tenants will be able also to challenge unfair rent increases and ask to keep a pet.
London Talent Strategy
The GLA published a full and an Easy-Read version of a London Inclusive Talent Strategy, as here. There is a summary of it.
• The target is increasing London’s employment rate to 80%.
• By 2035, an aim is a 20% increase in real household weekly income for the lowest-earning 20% of Londoners.
• Key metrics will include economic outcomes for learners, diversity in the workforce, and skills shortage vacancies.
There will be considerable dependencies on the way the number and types of jobs [more…]