14 Features
Using City Hall’ s planning powers
A draft of Mayor Sadiq Khan’ s new London Plan was published in July. It sets out a vision for the capital and is a blueprint for“ building a fairer, greener and more prosperous London for everyone over the next two decades.”
Benefits
The new plan will make use of City Hall’ s planning powers to achieve two key objectives: to build as many affordable homes for Londoners as possible and to deliver economic growth that benefits Londoners, all while continuing to meet the Mayor’ s green commitments.
At nearly half the length of the 2021 plan, the new draft is streamlined to reduce the burden on developers while retaining vital quality standards.
Priorities
Priorities in the draft London Plan include:
• Supporting London’ s future prosperity: the plan will create space for data centres and economic clusters for industries that will be vital to London’ s future economy. This includes AI and life sciences. The plan will ensure there is sufficient land available to meet the needs of modern and efficient industries, such as data centres, logistics, freight and other strategic infrastructure, whilst freeing up industrial land in highly accessible locations for housing.
• Supporting world-leading destinations and the 24-hour economy: the transformation of
Oxford Street will reinforce the West End’ s position as a global destination for retail, culture, entertainment and tourism. The new plan will protect music venues, theatres and cultural spaces that underpin London ' s £ 64 billion creative economy and will promote London’ s nightlife through strategic licensing.
• Revitalising high streets and town centres: the new plan will help local town centres adapt to changing consumer habits by supporting shops, cafés, pubs, restaurants and independent businesses, creating vibrant and resilient communities across London.
• Protecting the spaces businesses need to thrive: affordable workspace, industrial land, logistics and strategic infrastructure will ensure businesses have the space they need to start up, grow and succeed in the capital.
• Delivering the homes Londoners need, maximising affordable housing: A new framework will help to deliver as many as 558,000 new homes by 2037. The draft plan shows this will be possible but only with the right national support, including investment in key transport infrastructure that will help to unlock large housing projects. Reflecting the difficult economic conditions for housebuilding in London, the draft London Plan also sets out a more flexible, responsive approach to affordable housing.
• Creating a greener capital: the draft
plan will demonstrate leadership in improving and protecting the environment- promoting greener neighbourhoods, cleaner air, sustainable transport and increased biodiversity.
• Building more affordable homes while boosting access to green spaces: the plan prioritises brownfield development and will ensure housing delivery on brownfield sites is accelerated wherever possible. But this alone will not be enough to meet London’ s housing needs. That’ s why the plan will allow some limited and selective release of Green Belt land. There will be strict requirements in place for this to happen, which include: maximising the level of affordable housing on the land; ensuring highquality housing design and good transport connectivity; and increasing biodiversity and access to goodquality green spaces as part of developments.
• Building climate resilience into new development: As London experiences hotter weather, including more heat waves, the draft London Plan will encourage developers to use practical design features – such as shading, natural ventilation and building orientation – to help buildings stay cool naturally.
www. london. gov. uk
Londoners are invited to help shape the future of the capital through a 13-week public consultation, running to 15 October 2026