DD2764 Expenditure of revenue funding allocated through the Building More Homes Delivery Plan MD3378

1.1.    The Mayor has allocated £1,000,000 revenue funding, from the 2025-26 budget, in the Building More Homes Delivery Plan (Mayoral Decision (MD) 3378), to increase housing supply in London. The policy context and rationale were explained in detail in that decision.  

1.2.    Some of this revenue funding has already been released via Director Decision (DD) 2752, which approved expenditure of £25,000 on London Building Safety Standards research, and DD2754, which approved expenditure of £75,000 on research to explore sites in London that could host additional housing capacity. 

1.3.    In line with the governance arrangements agreed in MD3378 and, specifically, the Mayor’s delegation to the Executive Director, Housing and Land as the Senior Responsible Owner to approve expenditure for delivery of projects listed in paragraph 1.16 of that decision, this decision seeks to approve expenditure of the remaining £900,000 and details how this funding will be spent. 
 

2.1.    The projects set out in paragraphs 2.2–2.3 below aim to increase housing delivery in the short to long term, and it is considered will further the promotion of social and economic development in Greater London. Funding these projects will contribute to meeting the core London-level outcome of the Building More Homes Delivery Plan (MD3378), which is for Londoners to live in homes they can afford. It is also envisaged these projects will support additional outcomes in the Making Best Use of Land Delivery Plan, which is currently in development and subject to approval.

2.2.    Of the £900,000 budget, £276,000 is proposed to be allocated on projects that leverage the GLA’s resources to drive forward housing delivery. Expenditure will include the following projects:

•    Up to £75,000, to be spent by the GLA procuring services, to expand and enhance the existing Mayor of London Small Sites Small Builders programme. This will enable more housing delivery via this programme by 2030, including by providing targeted support to two London boroughs to package and release small sites. 

•    Up to £50,000, to be spent by the GLA procuring services, to collate and analyse data about stalled sites in London. The objective of this work is to address site-specific and thematic delivery challenges, to increase housing delivery outcomes by 2030. This work is tied to objectives agreed via the London Housing Mission Board in July 2025.

•    Up to £30,000, to be spent by the GLA procuring services, on developing a tool that can capture full and consistent information to support quicker grant decision-making as part of the roll-out of the new London Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026-2036.

•    Up to £50,000, to be spent by the GLA procuring services, on specialist legal, financial and accounting advice to clarify how the GLA’s public sector guarantee for investment in affordable housing could lever in additional private investment.

•    Up to £21,000 of grant funding to London Councils, to support a London Councils project that aims to incentivise institutional investment to increase affordable housing outcomes. 

•    Up to £50,000, to be spent by the GLA procuring services, to research family living at high density. This work involves forming an evidence base of design principles to: inform planning policy development; shape planning applications; and improve housing-demand trajectories.

2.3.    Of the £900,000 budget, £624,000 is proposed to be allocated on projects that enable housing delivery by: 

•    preparing strategic development locations
•    preparing economic, transport, planning, design and delivery frameworks for strategic development locations. 

This allocation will support the following projects: 

•    Up to £95,000, to be spent by the GLA procuring services, to develop new approaches by the GLA to accelerate electricity connections in high-growth areas, better unlocking housing developments where they face utility connection issues and to ensure future development has sufficient infrastructure capacity. This work includes developing feasible electrical routing across five strategic sites in the Royal Docks comprising 15,500 homes.

•    Up to £135,000, to be spent by the GLA procuring services, to support the preparation of the Ilford Opportunity Area Planning Framework (OAPF). This work will establish an overarching vision and spatial strategy for Ilford, guiding inclusive growth and helping to deliver approximately 6,000 new homes by 2041.

•    Up to £179,000, to be spent by the GLA procuring services, on research supporting the delivery of major transport-led residential development in sustainable locations across London. This work involves developing place-based delivery plans for up to 41,000 homes and will define strategic lessons to help unlock similar opportunities across London.

•    Up to £65,000 of grant funding to Transport for London, for transport modelling and highway planning. The aim of this work is to improve connectivity, accessibility and development viability in Charlton Riverside Opportunity Area. The project is the initiative and activity of RB Greenwich, supported by the GLA. The project objectives seek to de-risk development and boost certainty.

•    Up to £100,000 of grant funding to Be First, for a study that researches and defines an economic identity and vision for London Riverside. This work is aimed at attracting private investment by linking housing delivery to job creation and infrastructure. The project is the initiative and activity of Be First, supported by the GLA. The project objectives seek to de-risk development and boost certainty.

•    Up to £50,000 of grant funding to Knight Dragon Developments Limited (Knight Dragon), to contribute to the costs of procuring infrastructure assessments, masterplanning and viability appraisals on Greenwich Peninsula Central neighbourhood. The project is the initiative and activity of Knight Dragon, supported by the GLA. Greenwich Peninsula is deemed a Mayoral priority, due to its definition as an Opportunity Area in the London Plan. Projects outcomes will support 790 homes to start by 2029; and potentially bring forward development timeframes for 1,499 homes across plots within the ownership of the GLA’s subsidiary company GLA Land and Property Ltd.

Using services through an existing call-off contract

2.4.    All expenditure approved through this Decision Form that involves commissioning of services, or grant funding, will comply with the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code. 

2.5.    In the case of the Ilford Opportunity Area Planning Framework, described at paragraph 2.3, above, a call-off from the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) Landscape and Public Realm Framework will be used for expenditure of up to £50,000. The Framework provides a compliant and efficient route to procure high-quality landscape architecture, public realm design, and related consultancy services in support of regeneration, good growth, placemaking and development projects.

2.6.    The call-off was agreed by the Head of Regeneration and Growth Strategies on 4 March 2025, and the agreement has been created accordingly in line with Framework process. It was originally set up as a £0 value agreement with an allowance of up to £50,000, in line with the framework’s “taxi ranking” process. This would be used on requirements that need an efficient and compliant route to market. 

2.7.    The taxi ranking process ensures call-offs are awarded in a fair and transparent manner, proceeding to the next available ranked supplier on the specific lot rather than a direct award based on client preference.
 

3.1.    Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and the GLA are subject to the public sector equality duty and must have due regard to the need to:

•    eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act
•    advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
•    foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2.    The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage/civil partnership status.

3.3.    Both in the delivery of direct activity, and when procuring consultants under this decision, project managers will ensure:

•    project briefs and specifications consider diversity and inclusion
•    appropriate indicators are drawn up to monitor the impact on different communities.

3.4.    The proposed funding (£900,000 from the Mayor’s 2025-26 budget) will help facilitate housing delivery in London. This, in turn, will help to implement policies set out in the current London Housing Strategy. Londoners stand to benefit from an increase in housing, especially groups with protected characteristics. In 2021, Black, Asian, Mixed and Other ethnicities comprised 46.2 per cent of London’s population, with 53.8 per cent White. Therefore, the projects listed in this decision serve a population with high proportions of Black, Asian, Mixed and Other ethnic groups, who are disproportionately likely to experience poverty and associated housing constraints and will particularly benefit from additional housing, particularly affordable housing, and regeneration.
 

Key risks

4.1.    There is a risk of low take-up and insufficient time to deliver meaningful outcomes following the allocation of funding. This issue has been mitigated by proactive engagement that has identified 13 projects where the funding will be allocated. The funding is on track to be spent by the deadline.

4.2.    The key risk lies in meeting the deadline of 31 March 2026 given that all expenditure is expected to be incurred in 2025/26. There are two mitigating factors here. The first is that, in some cases, the GLA has already appointed consultants, who can be deployed under an existing contract. The second is that the GLA has already briefed TfL’s Procurement and Commercial team to begin preparing for the procurement pipeline. Failure to use the funding within the required timescale is considered a low risk.

4.3.    There is a risk that all partner organisations receiving grant funding from the GLA cannot procure suppliers, deliver the outputs or achieve full expenditure by 31 March 2026. However, this is considered low risk, as all partners have identified the projects as priorities to progress.

Subsidy control

4.4.    In each instance, the proposed grant funding has been subject to the four-limbed test self-assessment. In accordance with the Subsidy Control Act 2022, all four limbs must be met to constitute as subsidy. The assessments have concluded that the proposed grants to London Councils, Transport for London, Be First, and Knight Dragon amount to the provision of grant funding, and do not constitute a subsidy.

Consultation

4.5.    The GLA has consulted with internal stakeholders – including those working on planning, policy, regeneration, design, housing and public land – on the projects listed in this decision, and on the use of Mayoral funding.

Links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

4.6.    The table below highlights the links to key Mayoral strategies and priorities:

Conflicts of interest

There are no identified conflicts of interest from any officer involved in the drafting or clearance of this decision.
 

5.1.    Executive Director of Housing and Land approval is sought for expenditure of £900,000 of revenue funding from the 2025-26 GLA Housing & Land revenue budget allocation in the Building More Homes Delivery Plan (MD3378) for the projects and activities listed in paragraphs 2.2–2.3. The expenditure is all expected to be incurred in 2025-26.

5.2.    GLA Housing and Land Revenue budget of £900,000 was approved as a one-off growth budget as part of the 2025-26 budget-setting process. This is currently held in the Land and Development unit.

5.3.    The consultancy contracts and funding will be managed by the Housing and Land, and Good Growth directorates and the budgets and funding referred to in this decision will be monitored against Housing and Land: Strategy and Policy team’s budget code. All appropriate budget adjustments will be made. 
 

6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Executive Director of Housing and Land, in accordance with the delegated authority granted under MD3378, concern the exercise of the Authority’s general powers contained in section 30 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (“the GLA Act 1999”) to do such things which it is considered will further, or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to, the promotion of economic development and wealth creation and the promotion of social development in Greater London. 

6.2.    In exercising the powers contained in section 30 of the GLA Act 1999, the Authority has related statutory duties to:

•    make appropriate arrangements with a view to securing that there is due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people (section 33 of the GLA Act 1999);

•    exercise the powers in section 30 of the GLA Act 1999 in a way which is best calculated to: promote improvements in the health of persons in Greater London; promote the reduction in health inequalities between persons living in Greater London; and contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom (section 30(5) of the GLA Act 1999); and

•    consult with such bodies as may be considered appropriate in this particular case (section 32 of the GLA Act 1999).

6.3.    The power in section 30 of the GLA Act 1999 cannot be used to incur expenditure in doing anything which may be done by Transport for London. However, that restriction does not apply in relation to expenditure incurred by the GLA to do anything for the purposes of, or relating to, housing or regeneration. 

6.4.    In taking the decisions requested, the Executive Director must comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

6.5.    Officers have indicated at paragraph 2.4 of this report that the services in respect of which it is proposed that contracts be awarded have been or will be procured in accordance with the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code. In the case of the Ilford Opportunity Area Planning Framework, officers have confirmed that a call-off from the LLDC Landscape and Public Realm Framework will be used, which provides a compliant route to market.

6.6.    Where grant funding is proposed, officers must ensure that funding is distributed fairly, transparently, and in accordance with the GLA’s equalities duties and section 12 of the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must also ensure that appropriate funding agreements are put in place and executed before any commitment to fund is made or funding is paid.

6.7.    Officers have confirmed that the proposed grant funding does not constitute a subsidy within the meaning of the Subsidy Control Act 2022, or where it does, that it complies with the relevant subsidy control principles.
 

7.1.    The work will be delivered according to the following timetable: