Rough sleeping
The Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Plan of Action ensures that any Londoner at risk of homelessness can more easily access help no matter where in London they live, or which service they contact first.
A summary is here of the key initiatives and the dependencies on Government action to support the plan.
Comments from recipients of this update are welcomed on what their own borough does to support homeless people.
Safety in Social Rented homes
The Government announced in June 2025 its response to a 2022 consultation on electrical safety following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Mandatory electrical safety checks will be implemented in November 2025 for new social rented tenancies and May 2026 for existing tenancies. Private sector landlords have been required since 2020 to conduct such checks.
Reforms to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to speed up the review of new-build applications are being introduced.
To ensure all tenants live in safe, warm and decent homes, the Government has committed to update the 2004 Decent Homes [more…]
Planning appeals accelerated
More planning appeals that are decided via written representations will be processed faster under a new, simplified set of Government regulations. Only evidence put before the local planning authority during the application process will be accepted. Details of the changes and the effect on appellants, LPAs and interested parties are here.
The lawyer Simon Ricketts has commented on the revised procedure:
“If this results in a crisper appeal process, without any loss of quality, there is much to like here, although care will be needed:
- This makes it all [more…]
Flooding and Surface Water Strategy
A ‘Flood Ready London Partnership‘ of the Environment Agency, London Councils, London Fire Brigade, Mayor of London, Thames Water and TfL, supported by the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee has developed a London Surface Water Strategy.
The London Climate Resilience Review warned that London is under prepared for the impacts of climate change. The Environment Agency’s National Flood Risk Assessment highlights that almost 320,000 properties in London are at high risk of surface water flooding.
Tube fares to increase
There will be annual above-inflation fare increases in London until 2029 as a result of a direction in a letter by the Transport Secretary to the Mayor.
Sir Sadiq Khan has been told that Transport for London fares should rise by the RPI rate of inflation – currently 4.3 per cent – plus one per cent in each of the next four years.
The Government will be closely monitoring how TfL uses the grant it received in the 2025 Spending Review.
It is possible that the introduction of new Piccadilly [more…]
New flight paths
The Government is redesigning ‘skyways’ to allow planes to climb quicker during take-off and descend more smoothly, reducing noise and air pollution for residents who live along flight routes. It can also reduce aviation fuel consumption, emissions and flight times. Details are here.
Spending Review
Matthew Pennycook MP, MHCLG Minister, wrote to social housing providers about £39 billion in the Spring Statement 2025 for a successor to the Affordable Homes Programme over 10 years of starts from 2026-27. It prioritises social rent homes and funds affordable rent and shared ownership.
Sadiq Khan issued a statement regretting the Spending Review had no funding for new London transport infrastructure to support development. He wrote that without it “We will not be able to build the numbers of new affordable homes Londoners need.” and “The way [more…]
High Street Rental Auctions
Councils are empowered to take action where landlords have not taken sufficient steps to rent property by auctioning off leases on premises that have been vacant for more than a year and granting local businesses and community groups the ‘right to rent’ empty commercial lots at market prices.
The Government has updated guidance on the way auctions should be conducted, as here.
Councillor remote attendance and proxy voting
The Government consulted last year on this subject and following considerations of the responses has decided to proceed as in their statement of 5th June 2025 here. On remote attendance, DHCLG plans to permit local authorities to develop their own locally appropriate policies, if they decide to hold remote meetings. On proxy voting for meetings of the full council, DHCLG plans to require principal (unitary, upper and second-tier) councils to implement proxy voting schemes, to provide consistency for members who are absent. Guidance will be provided.
Right of Appeal
People should be able to challenge a planning decision other than through the Courts. London Forum members are asked to contact their MP promptly and urge them to support two proposed new clauses NC37 and NC38 for the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to be debated from Monday 9th June 2025. They would create a Third-party Right of Appeal where a local authority approves a development not in accord with the Local Plan. A control is that the Secretary of State may dismiss an appeal if it is vexatious, [more…]
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In an earlier article, I mentioned that two-thirds of member societies are already represented on the new live member news page, which in turn provides selected articles for [more…]
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