Gove intervenes in London Plan citing housing delivery concerns

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, has directed the Mayor of London to conduct a review of policies in the London Plan that the minister claims have slowed house building in the capital.

In a letter sent Monday (18 March), Gove directed Sadiq Khan under Section 340 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999, to review two specific policy areas relating to industrial land and so-called 'opportunity areas'.

Gove said there were 736 hectares of land being used for industry in the capital that could potentially be turned into housing development, but were stuck in the planning system.

According to the Secretary of State, stakeholders have said the Mayor's policies on designation "are too inflexible", which, Gove claimed, is discouraging developers from bringing forward other measures such as industrial intensification, co-location and substitution.

Gove also called for a review of 'opportunity areas', which are areas that have been identified as each having the potential to deliver at least 2,500 new homes.

He claimed that "too many [of the areas] have made almost no progress".

"This suggests that your Opportunity Areas policy [SD1] is not doing enough to unlock growth and regeneration, including by removing barriers or providing for additional flexibility in these areas," the letter said

Gove's direction calls for a review of how the opportunity areas policy can be amended to maximise the scale of ambition and accelerate housing delivery.

The review should also consider whether the current list of opportunity areas is correctly and sufficiently targeted, how other policies in the plan that constrain capacity or delivery might be appropriately adjusted where they are applied in opportunity areas, and whether there is a role for a single planning framework to accelerate housing.

Michael Gove said: "Londoners are being let down by the Mayor's chronic under delivery of new homes in the capital. We have already taken comprehensive action to reverse this trend - investing billions of pounds to build affordable homes and unlocking brownfield developments as part of our Long-Term Plan for Housing. 

"However, that alone will not build the homes we need, which is why I am now directing the Mayor to review aspects of the London Plan and announcing specialist support on planning to help unlock thousands of homes.  

"I look forward to continuing to work with the Greater London Authority, councils and the sector so we can get spades in the ground and deliver the homes the capital needs."

Gove also confirmed that DLUHC's new planning 'Super Squad', which comprises leading planners and specialists and is aimed at unblocking major developments, will lend their assistance to Greenwich Council and Newham Council.

This will involve £500,000 worth of specialist support in 2024/25, with the hopes of unblocking more than 7,000 homes, Gove said.

A London Labour spokesperson said: “This is nothing more than stunt from the Government to distract from their abysmal record of failure. The facts are clear, while Sadiq has been Mayor, London has outbuilt the rest of the country. Under a Labour Mayor housing completions in the capital have hit the highest level since the 1930s, according to the Government’s own data. London is also delivering twice the level of council homebuilding as the rest of the country combined, showing up the Tories’ dismal failure nationally.”

Adam Carey