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…]
Planning in London, Issue 134, July-Sept 2025
Issue 134 of Planning in London, the journal of the London Planning and Development Forum, has been released, covering the period July-September 2025. London Forum has an agreed subscription arrangement whereby our members may read it.
The full edition is not available on the website.
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…]
Response to ‘Towards a new London Plan’
We’ve formally responded to the consultation on ‘Towards a new London Plan’, which closed yesterday evening, following on from the presentation by the Deputy Mayor, Jules Pipe, at London Forum’s event on 13th May.
We used some AI tools to help summarise our answers to the long set of questions in a readable format, with the detailed summary now held in our ‘What we’ve said’ archive here.
A shorter summary can be found below:
Section 1: Introduction
London Forum expresses strong reservations about the imposed Government’s [more…]
Assembly questions for next London Plan
The London Assembly Planning and Regeneration Committee put questions on ‘Towards the next the London Plan’ on 9th June 2025 to two sets of guests.
The transcripts here and here of the discussions indicate what the Assembly may take into account in their scrutiny of London Plan Team work in preparing the 2026 draft replacement London Plan which will be consulted upon.
Comments by London Forum’s members on what was said are welcome, as there are likely to be variations across London on the points made by the [more…]
Reforming Planning Committees
The Government could transfer decision-making power from Councillors to an un-elected planning officer on what applications are considered at committee. Conservation areas would not be protected. A Technical consultation here is open until 23rd July covering decision delegation, size and composition of planning committees and mandatory training. Two tiers of planning applications are proposed. For Tier A, “minor” developments and those up to 9 dwellings would be delegated to officers but in London that could be increased to 49 dwellings. A current Planning Working Paper [more…]
Will the next London Plan rise to the city’s real challenges?
This article was first published in Housing Today.
Ben Derbyshire reflects on Sadiq Khan’s latest policies to boost housebuilding in the capital.
You could be forgiven for thinking, following Sadiq Khan’s volte face on building in the green belt, that Londoners would be all over this issue like a rash. Far from it, if the mood among members of the London Society and the London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies at a meeting convened on 13 May is anything to go by.
The [more…]
The New London Plan: Shaping Housing for the Future
On 13th May, the London Forum and the London Society held a joint collaborative event at UCL, that brought together leading voices in planning and development in the run up to the new London Plan due in 2026/7, focusing on the city’s most pressing issues: housing, transport, green space and sustainable growth.
The event was chaired by our President, Ben Derbyshire, with introductions by Michael Jubb, chair of the London Forum; Leanne Tritton, chair of TLS; and Jess Ferm, director of education at UCL/Bartlett. Keynote speakers were Jules Pipe [more…]
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Parks and Climate Change
The Heritage Fund worked with Historic England to better understand how the climate crisis is affecting the UK’s natural heritage ...
Ongoing District Line service problems
East Putney, Southfields, Wimbledon Park and Wimbledon stations together see over 29 million entries and exits a year but there ...
Tackling high street decline
High streets that have been hollowed out by the unchecked spread of vape stores, betting shops, and rogue businesses that ...
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Member News
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Will the London Plan deliver the housing and places London needs?
📆 Mon 14th September | 18:30 - 20:30
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)
A last chance to shape the London Plan — join us next Monday. The draft London Plan proposes that 50% of all new homes be affordable. With competition for homes, industrial and other uses, some housing will be built in what is now Green Belt land. This is an important subject covering proposals for housing development in London for the next 20 years. Book now ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/events/will-the-london-plan-deliver-the-housing-and-places-london-needs/#booking ) for this Open Meeting on Monday 14th September. We’ve invited the London Plan team to talk about: The amount of housing required to meet…
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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)