Central Government Archives | London Forum https://www.londonforum.org.uk/tag/central-government/ Working to protect and improve the quality of life in London Sat, 19 Sep 2026 14:14:16 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.2 https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/cropped-Logo-512x512px.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Central Government Archives | London Forum https://www.londonforum.org.uk/tag/central-government/ 32 32 240479893 Information for members https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2026/09/18/information-for-members/ Fri, 18 Sep 2026 10:00:39 +0000 https://www.londonforum.org.uk/?p=14090

Within the ‘Resources‘ page of the website, ‘External Resources‘ provides links to news on London and on the activities of the Government and the GLA. Societies and London Plan team members can subscribe to several of these for periodic updates.

A new link to the Planning Portal has been added which is well worth monitoring regularly for news on proposals of Government and changes that they have implemented. The list of topics that you can read about is here.

A new resource has also been added to our subscription page : our recent emails in full, plus news headlines.

]]> 14090 Planning agreements for medium-sized sites https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2026/09/11/planning-agreements-for-medium-sized-sites/ Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:00:03 +0000 https://www.londonforum.org.uk/?p=13652 The Government has launched a consultation on a set of standard planning agreements for medium-sized housing sites. The proposals are intended to help streamline the negotiation of Section 106 agreements, provide greater certainty for local planning authorities and developers, and reduce the time and resources spent negotiating standard provisions.

Details are on page 3 of the latest newsletter to local authorities by Joanna Averley, MHCLG’s Chief Planner.

The Government thinks Section 106 agreements can secure affordable housing, despite the cross-subsidy model not achieving its aims recently.

]]> 13652 Protection for Public Green Space https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2026/09/09/protection-for-public-green-space/ Wed, 09 Sep 2026 10:00:27 +0000 https://www.londonforum.org.uk/?p=13596 The Government will review the fragmented and outdated nature of current legislative protections for public recreational green spaces, assess how these protections complement those in the planning system, and consider the lack of central records on protected land.

The review will engage a wide range of stakeholders including NFPGS to understand how the current framework operates in practice and will identify options to improve clarity, coherence and accessibility of the legislative framework, informing future policy development.

The findings will be published by Spring 2027.

]]> 13596 Parks and Climate Change https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2026/09/08/parks-and-climate-change/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 10:00:23 +0000 https://www.londonforum.org.uk/?p=13544 The Heritage Fund worked with Historic England to better understand how the climate crisis is affecting the UK’s natural heritage sites and the people that manage them.

As the first research of its kind, owners and managers of historic parks, gardens and cemeteries were asked how these 2,700+ registered heritage sites are coping and how they are being managed and maintained in response to climate challenges.

View Historic parks, gardens and cemeteries climate change executive summary
View Historic parks, gardens and cemeteries climate change full report

]]> 13544 Tackling high street decline https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2026/09/03/tackling-high-street-decline/ Thu, 03 Sep 2026 10:00:24 +0000 https://www.londonforum.org.uk/?p=13540 High streets that have been hollowed out by the unchecked spread of vape stores, betting shops, and rogue businesses that do little to serve local communities are set to face a crackdown under new powers announced by the Prime Minister.

Details of the new powers are here.

There will be a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, social clubs and live music venues across England from next year to help them – fully funded by reviewing reliefs for businesses that do not make a positive contribution.

]]> 13540 Mayor challenges Heathrow expansion https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2026/08/30/mayor-challenges-heathrow-expansion/ Sun, 30 Aug 2026 10:00:58 +0000 https://www.londonforum.org.uk/?p=13542 In a letter to the House of Commons Transport Committee the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, claims the government’s case for increasing Heathrow Airport’s capacity relies heavily on outdated evidence from 2015.

The Mayor and TfL have accused the government of relying on the 2015 report from the Airports Commission, which recommended a new runway be built, and have pointed out that the revised environmental tests do not provide sufficient reassurance that an expanded Heathrow can be delivered without serious environmental impacts. 

Also see our response to the consultation.

]]> 13542 Response to Heathrow Expansion Consultation https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2026/08/29/response-to-heathrow-expansion-consultation/ Sat, 29 Aug 2026 08:11:46 +0000 https://www.londonforum.org.uk/?p=13573 The London Forum has submitted a highly critical response to the Government’s consultation on Heathrow expansion policy – link below.

The economic appraisal which forms part of the consultation shows that the relevant costs taken together, including environmental costs, greatly exceed the expected benefits. We cover many other issues in our response; but for that reason alone, we cannot support the draft policy statement.

You only have until 1st September to respond – our previous article has some useful guidance.

pdf icon Our response is in the What we’ve said archive as usual.

]]> 13573 Accelerating housebuilding https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2026/08/27/accelerating-housebuilding/ Thu, 27 Aug 2026 10:00:06 +0000 https://www.londonforum.org.uk/?p=13536 The Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Rt Hon Matthew Pennycook MP, wrote to mayors and leaders of local authorities about the government’s next phase of reforms to accelerate growth and housebuilding.

On 17 August 2026, the government published its response to the public consultation on a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and announced wider measures to create a faster, more certain planning system.

The government has also published the recent Housing Delivery Test (HDT) results.

Relevant Planning Practice Guidance will be updated.

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