Slimmed down London Plan 'to boost housebuilding'

The next London Plan, the capital's planning and development document, will be "streamlined" to help new housing schemes flourish, City Hall has said.

The new strategy – due to be published this summer before being eventually adopted in 2028 – could be "nearer to half the length" of the one formulated in 2021, the deputy mayor for planning said.

The current London Plan was criticised in 2024 by former Housing Secretary Michael Gove. City Hall said by "stripping away duplication and simplifying policies", more homes would be built.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) is currently falling short of achieving both affordable housing targets and wider housebuilding goals set by the government.

The GLA said the new London Plan would have a less complex set of rules for developers, making schemes – especially on smaller sites – more economically viable.

It would seek to make sure "that is clearer and easier to navigate for the housing industry and councils, stripping away duplication and simplifying policies that have been interpreted oppressively by boroughs", officials said.

"Alongside the mayor's wider efforts, this will mean more homes are built, particularly social and affordable housing, and it will encourage a diverse range of innovative builders to deliver more homes in the capital."

Officials would also be far more "interventionist" when calling in rejected planning applications, allowing City Hall to ultimately have the final say on new homes over councils in many cases.

A review into the effectiveness of the current London Plan, commissioned by Gove, said there was "just so much to navigate and negotiate that it should come as no surprise that wending one's way through the application process is expensive and time-consuming.

Instructions to review parts of the London Plan were scrapped by the current Labour government shortly after entering office that same year, and the Ministry for Housing suggested a new "partnership approach" to improve housing delivery in London.

Deputy Mayor for Housing Tom Copley said that new powers secured through the English Devolution and Community Act passed in April would allow City Hall a lower threshold for calling in applications.

It would also give the mayor renewed powers to grant planning permission through mayoral development orders.

It is understood that officials have been instructed to scope out major brownfield sites near transport hubs that could benefit from this.

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