New London Plan: Inside City Hall’s new playbook to boost housing

London’s housing system is set for a major reset, with City Hall planning to simplify the city's main planning rulebook in an effort to get more homes built faster. The next London Plan, which guides development across the city, will be made shorter and easier to follow as officials try to cut delays and unlock stalled housing schemes. The updated plan, due to be published this summer and adopted in 2028, is expected to be “nearer to half the length” of the current 2021 version, according to the deputy mayor for planning, BBC reported.Officials said the aim is to remove duplication and make the rules easier to understand so that more homes can be built. City Hall, as cited by BBC said that the Greater London Authority (GLA) is not currently meeting its targets for affordable housing or wider housebuilding goals set by the government.Under the new approach, planning rules would be simpler for developers, making projects, especially on smaller sites, more financially viable. Officials said it would be “clearer and easier to navigate for the housing industry and councils, stripping away duplication and simplifying policies that have been interpreted oppressively by boroughs”.They added, “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.”City Hall is also expected to take a more “interventionist” approach when planning applications are rejected, giving the mayor more power to step in and make final decisions in many cases.A previous review of the London Plan, commissioned by Michael 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.”That review process was later dropped by the Labour government after it came into office, with the Ministry for Housing instead suggesting a “partnership approach” to improve housing delivery in London.Over the last decade, house-building in London has fallen by 84%. There is also ongoing debate over whether the housing crisis is driven more by lack of supply, along with concerns about a “design disconnect” in new developments.Deputy mayor for Housing Tom Copley said new powers under the English Devolution and Community Act, passed in April, will allow City Hall to step in on more planning applications at an earlier stage. He also said the mayor will be able to grant planning permission through mayoral development orders. Officials are also looking at major brownfield sites near transport hubs that could be developed for housing.