The mayor released his Draft Housing Strategy for consultation detailing his ‘epic’ challenge to deliver 42,000 homes per annum for the next 25 years. The Strategy echoes the emotive debate around London’s housing shortage and identifies planning policies and funding initiatives to more than double London’s current annual supply.
Planning Policies include:
- Increased Residential Densities, in particular within town centres and the 33 Opportunity Areas;
- ‘Home Zones’ – effectively Enterprise Zones for Housing within the Opportunity Areas which will benefit from ‘lighter touch’ planning controls, tax incentives and assistance with land assembly;
- Delivery of 15,000 affordable homes based on 40% Intermediate; 30% Social Rent and 30% Affordable Rent;
- Delivery of 5,000 private rent units per annum on larger phased developments – aimed at longer term tenancies with greater certainty over rate increases tied up by a 15 year covenant;
- Working with Developers and Authorities to unlock 200,000 new homes tied up in unimplemented planning permissions; and
- A significant and expedited release of public controlled vacant land.
The London Strategic Housing Market Assessment will be published in January which will set a revised housing mix and feed into future revisions to the London Plan which will include policies on managed release of industrial land for high density housing; Garden Suburbs on large areas of vacant Public Land; and a review of open spaces within transport corridors.
The Mayor proposes a ‘Build to Rent’ fund aimed at attracting investment underwritten by the Government’s Debt Guarantee to deliver the 5,000 private rent units per year, as well as a ‘London Housing Bank’ which would release GLA funds to underwrite infrastructure and large scale housing schemes.
The key message is delivery, and the changes proposed could indeed stimulate further momentum in London’s recovering housing industry. However, additional planning and financial powers for the Mayor may be resisted and in the rush to build more homes, there is likely to be conflicts with space standards, amenity levels and parking levels.
The document which is accessed via the following link will be subject to public consultation to 17th February 2014. Please contact Lyndon Gill or your normal Iceni contact if you would like to discuss further.
http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/housing-land/consultations/draft-london-housing-strategy
