Planning in London, Issue 136, Jan-Mar 2026
Issue 136 of Planning in London, the journal of the London Planning and Development Forum, has been published, covering the period Jan-Mar 2026. London Forum has a subscription arrangement whereby our members may read it.
A useful AI-generated summary can be downloaded (included in website searches).
Table of contents:
- Planning Enables; It Doesn’t Deliver — the editors’ critique of housing delivery failure.
- New Kinds of Suburbia — Mallett on suburban densification and design-led approaches.
- Key Opinion Pieces — [more…]
Densifying the Suburbs – A presenter’s Insight
Our President, Ben Derbyshire, provides his Insights into our recent Densifying the Suburbs event.
I welcomed the invitation to speak at an open meeting of the Forum, ‘Densifying the Suburbs’ alongside Professor Tony Travers of UCL and local planners, Paul Lewin and Justin Carr from Waltham Forest and Brent councils respectively. My challenge – most people who have time to participate in their local civic societies will already be well housed, so what, I asked, should be our [more…]
Densifying the Suburbs – Meeting report
We held an excellent sold-out meeting last week examining the issues, with very interesting speakers and a rapt audience. The event page has been updated with a detailed report, event photo and the pdf presentations from Tony Travers and Paul Lewin. It can be found in our events archive along with records of previous meetings.
Measures to improve delivery of affordable housing in London
London Forum has responded to two consultations to boost house building, as follows.
A Government consultation on Emergency Measures for a temporary relief from the CIL and changes to Mayoral planning powers.
A GLA draft London Plan Guidance proposing time-limited changes to cycle parking, changes to housing design guidance and a time-limited planning route for the delivery of affordable housing.
London Forum believes neither [more…]
Densifying the suburbs
The next London Plan, with its much higher housing targets, will increase the pressure for higher densities in the suburbs. It could guide high-density housing / mixed-use development to high accessibility locations. The shape of the new strategy will be a key issue for the new London Plan.
Issues
- What is the vision? What should the strategy be? (Speaker: Prof. Tony Travers), and
- What would be needed to increase the density of the London suburbs? (Speaker: Ben Derbyshire)
How much should we focus on accessible locations – around stations and [more…]
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.
Consultation for next London Plan
The GLA has published an ‘Easy Read’ version here of an earlier ‘Towards a New London Plan‘. It explains the need to deliver more homes and related problems. The consultation seeks views on that and various options for land use, jobs, environment and cultural facilities. London Forum’s members should consider responding by the closing date of 2nd November 2025 to influence the content of the draft replacement London Plan due in 2026.
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.
London Population’s Projected Growth: Patterns Across Boroughs
This is the second in a series of articles on London’s population, making use of the Office of National Statistics’ latest growth projections, published recently here. The focus is on variations across both inner and outer London boroughs.
Context: London and the rest of the country
London currently has a population of around 9.1 million, representing 15% of the total population of England and Wales. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has published its latest projections which show that London’s population is expected to have grown by 6.7% [more…]
Social housing fund
The Government has announced an allocation of £11.7 billion to the GLA over ten years for the delivery of additional social and affordable housing with a minimum of 60% as Social Rent. The programme will support some regeneration schemes that provide a net increase in homes on a site. Five steps to a decade of renewal are explained in the policy paper, including for rents, borrowing costs, building safety, skills and capabilities.
Consultations on a new Decent Homes Standard and on Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards are [more…]
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Manual for Streets update
Environmental Outcomes Reports
Chief Planning Officer’s newsletter
Densifying the Suburbs – A presenter’s Insight
Our President, Ben Derbyshire, provides his Insights into our recent Densifying the Suburbs event.
I welcomed the invitation to speak at an [more…]
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