London Mayor Boris Johnson has published further guidance on the 2015 London Plan and the 2016 Minor Alterations to the London Plan (MALP), which replaces the 2012 Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance. The guide is split into seven chapters, with its most interesting advice intended to help the Capital’s commercial nucleus retain its global competitiveness.

CAZ protection from PDR regulations

Mere days after the Government laid out the new office-to-residential Permitted Development Rights (PDR) regulations before Parliament, the Greater London Authority’s new Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) seeks to help central London boroughs discourage unwanted conversion of offices to homes.

At the moment London’s Central Activities Zone (CAZ) and the Isle of Dogs are exempt from PDR, an exemption that is due to remain in place until May 2019. Subsequent to this, local authorities will have to bring in their own Article 4 directions. The new SPG guidance provides boroughs with the “evidence base” needed to apply for the Article 4 direction (as said by Sir Edward Lister – the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning – last week at MIPIM).

Additionally, the new guidance states that in parts of central London – such as the West End, Kings Cross, Waterloo, London Bridge and parts of the City Fringe – priority should be given to commercial use over new residential development.

So, how will London supply housing?

London needs 49,000 new homes a year, the SPG plans to deal with this need through two sets of policies. The first policy method is based on ‘traditional’ targets derived from the London Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA). The second method addresses the balance of need by drawing together a range of new policies to encourage higher-density, housing-led, mixed-use development in accessible locations. Such locations (opportunity areas, intensification areas, town centres, surplus industrial land etc.) are deemed suitable to ‘fill’ the gap between the minimum housing supply target and identified need.

SPG identified sources of housing supply

- Between 2004 and 2013 average net completions within inner and central London exceeded those in outer London by approximately 2,000 homes a year. Given that outer London is expected to experience considerable household growth in the next twenty years, outer London boroughs will need to make a more substantial contribution in meeting housing need.
- Continued partnership with the South East will be needed to ensure there is opportunity there in the future to help address housing and infrastructure challenges facing the wider metropolitan area as a whole.
- Development in identified ‘Opportunity Areas’ is expected to be a significant driver of London’s housing delivery – Haringey, Sutton, Hounslow and Kingston are all identified in the report as places the Mayor is working with to identify new Opportunity Areas in.
- ‘Intensification Areas’ (areas which are already built up and in strategically important locations) are recognised as having the potential for contributing 8,650 homes throughout 2015 - 2025.
- Boroughs should look to small sites to make a substantial contribution to housing delivery. Increasing the numbers of approved smaller sites could play an important role in accelerating delivery over the short to medium term.
- A proactive approach should be taken to identify and assess opportunity for custom build projects. This method of housing delivery is said to have the potential to make a greater contribution to the overall scale and speed of London housing provision.

With Boris preparing to bow out of the Mayor’s office, the publication of the updated SPG may be one of his final offerings to London’s property sector. With the handover to Sadiq Khan (as current opinion dictates) taking place in May, we don’t have long to wait to see if Sadiq’s ‘Homes for Londoners’ plan has what it takes to tackle the Capital’s continuing housing crisis.