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.
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.
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.
High quality Social Housing
The Policy Exchange has a 35-Point Blueprint for a New Generation of Superlative British Social Housing. It calls for a new generation of exemplary council housing that will restore the traditional, humanist social and design ideals that marked the early iterations of English public housing. The report argues that by so doing, not only will we help solve the affordability riddle that lies at the heart of the housing crisis, but we will provide the growth, prosperity and social mobility that will help turbo-charge the economy and [more…]
Economic growth
The Resolution Foundation claims that growth would make all the Government’s challenges easier to solve – but it is not straining every sinew to achieve it.
Blockers and Approvers: Rates of Delegation and Approval for Planning Applications
The Government recently published Planning Statistics for the year to March 2025. For the 32 London boroughs, the statistics showed some interesting features.
First, they showed that all but three boroughs – Camden, Ealing and Harrow delegated decisions to officers on 90% or more of the applications they received; and that 19 of them delegated decisions on more than 98% of applications. Two boroughs – Enfield and Redbridge – delegated decisions on nearly 100% of applications.
Second, rates of approval varied much more widely, from an outlier [more…]
High quality design
As the Planning and Infrastructure Bill makes its way through Parliament, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has lodged an amendment to the Bill to ensure design quality is at the heart of new development.
The amendment requires spatial development strategies, such as the London Plan, to include a design vision for the strategy area that meets the practical needs of residents and communities, and reflects the principles of safety, sustainability and accessibility.
Right to Buy sales
The Government published figures in a report for the number of social homes sold, the number replaced and the receipts for LPAs.
Annual eligible sales in London peaked at 4,000 in 2014 and declined after that as discounts were reduced, although receipts from sales remained high.
Replacement properties for those sold have increasingly failed to meet the one-for-one target since 2017-18, as described in the report, and some reasons are suggested.
Chief Planner’s update
On 19th August 2025 Joanna Averley, the MHCLG Chief Planner issued an update to planners in local authorities on recent Government planning proposals, a faster Local Plan system, reform of the Statutory Consultee system, planning fees, a consultation on electricity network infrastructure and a survey on the use of digital Design Codes.
The Planning Advisory Service (PAS) has produced a toolkit to help councils review their planning committees.
Funding for Councils
London Councils, representing all local authorities in London, is urging the government to ensure its Fair Funding Review 2.0 proposals distribute funding to local authorities fairly and efficiently on the basis of need. London Councils’ analysis here highlights serious issues within the Government’s proposals that risk dramatically underestimating levels of need for local services in London.
London Councils is calling for a more accurate approach to assessing local levels of need, which is key to ensuring available resource matches need, sustaining hard-pressed local [more…]
Didn’t find what you’re looking for? Try a new search:
Cost-of-living crisis
![Low Cost Solar [ MHCLG ]](https://i0.wp.com/www.londonforum.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Low-Cost-Solar.jpg?fit=150%2C98&ssl=1)
Low cost solar panels
Sign up for OnLondon news
The Freedom Pass, its Impact and Costs
London’s Freedom Pass was introduced in 1973, and it has had a profound impact on the lives of Londoners, particularly, of course, those with a disability and those over state-pensionable age. But [more…]
Most Popular This Week
-
Using AI in your Civic Society
📆 Thu 30th April | 18:30 - 20:30
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere in the news and in business these days – we even used it to generate the image for this event. How can it help your civic society ? Do you need to be an expert? (No!) Civic societies are often under-resourced, and at this event we’ll show that with a little knowledge, illustrated with examples, AI can bolster your resources in several useful ways, without necessarily spending a penny. Please book here ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/events/using-ai-in-your-civic-society#booking ). Agenda Firstly by way of introduction, we’ll look at some novel…
-
Member Services Committee meeting
📅 Thu 7th May | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)