High Value Council Tax Surcharge
There is a consultation ending on 14th July 2026 on a proposed High Value Council Tax Surcharge (HVCTS) on owners of homes for each £500,000 of value above £2 million.
The Forum will respond to the consultation and we urge members to send to chair@londonforum.org.uk any comments or suggestions on points London Forum ought to make by 26 June 2026.
There are four questions in the main part of the consultation to which responses can be submitted by societies, which we urge you to do, through the online survey or [more…]
Building the Homes London needs
Centre for London has published a long report with recommendations on how London’s housing crisis could be resolved.
The announcement of their report provides details of the background to London’s housing crisis and outlines their recommendations.
The document discusses the London housing crisis, framing it as a matter of supply and demand. It explores how well current housing needs are met and reviews the effectiveness of policies aimed at improving housing availability. Solutions proposed include expanding local authorities’ capacity to manage homes and addressing demand-side inefficiencies.
![Crews Hill Station [Photo: Enfield Society]](https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Crews-Hill-station-1024x614-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C614&ssl=1)
Response to New Towns Draft Programme Consultation
We’ve responded to the government’s New Towns Draft Programme Consultation.
The Forum does not support the classifying inner-urban developments or Green Belt extensions as ‘New Towns’. We argue that proposals like Chase Park/Crews Hill (Enfield) and South Barking do not possess the geographic or socioeconomic separation required to build a ‘clear and distinct identity’. Instead, we view these as vehicles designed to accelerate housing delivery while bypassing standard national Green Belt protections and planning scrutiny.
Major Concerns & Recommendations
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Green Belt [more…]
Planning for Telecoms Masts
Most of us now carry smart phones around with us all the time: they have become an essential part of modern life. For most of the time when we are out and about, using our phones depends on signals from telecoms masts. Since the first dozen masts were erected by Vodafone in 1985 to cover London and the M4 corridor, they have become ubiquitous across the country. In London alone there are estimated to be some 7,000 of the monopole masts we see on streets and the tops [more…]
More social housing
The King’s Speech included proposed legislation to increase investment in social housing.
The Social Housing Bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 14th May. It is to protect much-needed social housing stock, give affordable housing providers the clarity and confidence they need to build more social homes, and better protect tenants.
The Minister Mathew Pennycook MP wrote to Council Leaders to explain the purpose of the Bill as here.
The progress in Parliament of the Bill can be seen here.
Planning Fees consultation response
We’ve responded to the government’s consultation on planning application fees.
While the proposal to set a National Default Fee Schedule at 90% of estimated costs is a step in the right direction, we argue that it’s too blunt an instrument. London’s planning costs are significantly higher than the national average — due to heritage requirements, high-density development complexity, and staffing costs — yet the consultation lacks transparency about how the funding shortfall is distributed across local planning authorities (LPAs). For each category there should be a [more…]
Planning enforcement
The Government has issued additional Planning Practice Guidance on responding to suspected breaches of planning control including unauthorised encampments and failure to build out approved developments.
It explains what options are available to local planning authorities to tackle them, including stop notices.
Architects should rejoice that Britain’s latest new towns aren’t new towns at all
By Ben Derbyshire, chair at HTA Design, former RIBA president, and President of the London Forum.
I don’t generally play for laughs, but I got one anyway at Design West’s Arnolfini conference on Labour’s then-new housing plans when I urged the audience not to hold their breath waiting for the twelve promised new towns. We still haven’t finished the ones Richard Crossman began in the 1960s. As it turns out, we needn’t have worried because of the seven finally [more…]
Planning Committee Reforms: Stop the Attack on Local Democracy!
The London Forum has issued a scathing response to the Government’s recent consultation on Planning Committee reforms.
The proposals were branded as authoritarian and anti-democratic
Despite claims that these changes will focus committees on complex cases, the draft regulations actually prevent many significant, contentious applications from ever being seen by elected members.
Under the new “Schedule 1” and “Schedule 2” system, the overriding assumption is that almost all applications will be decided by officers. The Forum is particularly concerned that conservation areas have been excluded from special consideration, and that [more…]
Using AI in your Civic Society – Meeting Report & Videos
We held a lively interactive meeting on the subject of Artificial Intelligence on 30th April, which was recorded. Our first speaker, Richard Farthing, covered the background and some relevant uses, not only of well-known ‘chatbots’ such as ChatGPT, but also applications that use AI in the background, and real-world examples, particularly around planning. The second half was a full-on interactive session led by John Myers, who tested out several audience questions on live AI services, ranging from planning to creating images.
We naturally chose AI – in the [more…]
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West London Orbital overground
TfL is making plans for a new rail service on existing, underused rail lines in west London - this would ...
Planning Resources Are Stretched Thin
According to research by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) nine in ten local authority planning departments in England and Wales ...
Presentation slides: Will the London Plan deliver the housing and places London needs?
The slides from last week's London Forum/GLA event on the draft London Plan have been added to its event page.
...
Key policies in the NPPF
The following is a blog recently written by the lawyer Simon Ricketts which is intended to help developers to get a planning application approved. It is helpful for London Forum's members to understand parts of the new NPPF and for considering its ...
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Member News
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Planning, Environment and Transport committee meeting
📅 Thu 8th October | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)
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Annual General Meeting 2026
📆 Wed 28th October | 18:30 - 20:30
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)
Wednesday 28 October 6.30pm at The Gallery, 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL Notice is hereby given to member societies of the 2026 AGM of the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies. Doors open for networking, drinks and nibbles from 6.00pm. Please book your place(s) using the booking facility ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/events/agm-2026#booking ). Agenda Welcome and Introduction Approval of the Minutes of the AGM of 16 October 2025, available here ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/agm-papers/ ) Chair’s Report – Chair Michael Jubb Financial Report – Treasurer Ali Dezyanian Approval of the Annual Report and Accounts for 2025-2026, available here ( https://…