DD2820 London Land Board – Recruitment of Working Chair

1.1.    In 2025, the Mayor and London Councils established six missions, to complement the UK government’s Plan for Change missions-led approach for the nation. Housing delivery was one of these six missions. As a result, the London Partnership Board (a progression from the London Recovery Board) agreed separate mission boards should be created to progress identified priority areas. These include the London housing mission, whose focus is accelerating the delivery of new homes. 

1.2.    In July 2025, the Housing Mission Board agreed its focus should include data collection on stalled sites (e.g. the New Homes Accelerator); and a delivery group focused on priority areas raised by the Mission Board. It was internally agreed this could be achieved through a pan-London Land Board (LLB). This would create a focal point for collaboration across government bodies that own stalled or underused land parcels, with the potential to deliver new homes. Improvements in how the public sector manages its estate could contribute significantly to these missions – in particular, increasing the supply of land for housing.

1.3.    In response, the Mayor of London is working with the government and London Councils to establish governance structures (including the LLB) to support the delivery of these missions.

1.4.    The LLB will bring together senior stakeholders across the public sector to: 

•    improve collaboration
•    create a strategic framework for land opportunities
•    drive the release and optimisation of public land for housing, economic growth and broader community benefit. 

The LLB will be co-chaired by the GLA’s Chief of Staff; and the government’s Chief Property Officer. It will focus on regional and central government collaboration.

1.5.    To support the LLB’s work, a working group will be established at officer level to: 

•    identify opportunities and challenges
•    share best practice
•    develop strategic responses to land and estate issues across London. 

The Working Group will provide operational support to the LLB and ensure that strategic insight is converted into action.

1.6.    The LLB co-chairs have identified the need for an independent chair for the working group. The chair will bring sector expertise and independence from public landowning bodies, to provide leadership and strategic direction.

1.7.    To secure a suitably qualified person, the GLA undertook a procurement process to appoint a specialist recruitment agency to assist. After a competitive process, the preferred supplier was McLean Public. As such, funding approval is required to progress with the appointment, so McLean Public can begin recruiting. 

1.8.    The total funding requirement is £110,000, comprising of up to £20,000 for recruitment costs and up to £90,000 in staffing costs for the Chair's remuneration over a three-year period.
 

2.1.    The primary objective of this spend is to secure recruitment services, to appoint an experienced and independent chair of the LLB Working Group.

2.2.    The appointed chair will:

•    provide leadership to the Working Group and set meeting agendas
•    support collaboration across public-sector partners
•    inform the agenda and discussions at the LLB meetings
•    represent the Working Group in wider stakeholder forums.

2.3.    The recruitment process will ensure that the appointed chair:

•    has significant experience in public-estate management and housing delivery in London
•    is clearly able to lead complex stakeholder groups
•    brings independence and external perspective to the role.

2.4.    This appointment is expected to: 

•    strengthen governance
•    improve coordination across public landowners
•    support the delivery of housing and wider public-sector objectives.
 

3.1.    The GLA is subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

3.2.    The work of the LLB supports outcomes aligned with the Mayor’s equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) objectives. These include increasing housing delivery and improving access to opportunities, which can benefit groups with protected characteristics.

3.3.    The Mayor’s Workforce EDI Strategy, We Belong Here, commits to attracting talent from all backgrounds; and ensuring the organisation reflects London’s diversity. In support of this, inclusive recruitment practices have been made an explicit requirement of the executive search provider. Using an executive search firm for this key appointment will ensure the recruitment process is fair, transparent and free from bias. It will also broaden the pool of candidates beyond those typically reached through conventional recruitment channels

3.4.    London’s diversity remains one of its biggest assets. The GLA commits to leading by example, by ensuring senior appointments to boards and advisory panels reflect Londoners. Officers will work with the service provider to ensure:

•    the job description is inclusive of groups with protected characteristics
•    communication mediums and platforms used to advertise the role are appropriate
•    reasonable adjustments are made, where necessary 
•    a diverse interview panel is mobilised to support a fair and balanced assessment process.

Officers are satisfied that these measures are consistent with the Public Sector Duty.
 

Links to Mayoral priorities

4.1.    This work aligns with:

•    the Making Best Use of Land programme, supporting the release and optimisation of public land
•    London Missions, particularly housing delivery
•    wider Mayoral priorities relating to economic growth, public service reform and collaboration.

Key risks and issues

Recruitment risk

4.2.    There is a risk of not attracting a suitable candidate. However, this has been mitigated through engaging a specialist recruitment agency (McLean Public), who will bring sector insight and experience to support the search; and identify a range of suitable candidates with the necessary experience.

Programme delay

4.3.    Delays in appointing the chair may delay the start of the LLB and Working Group and hamper their ability to tackle priority areas set out by the London Housing Mission Board. Timely appointment of the recruiter will mitigate this, alongside an agreed programme for delivery of the process.

Conflicts of interest in recruitment

4.4.    It is important to ensure the chair remains independent of member organisations. As part of the recruitment process, the executive search company must undertake conflict-of-interest checks in the early stages of the process. This means officers can assess perceived conflicts before candidates are shortlisted – enabling appropriate management from the outset. 

4.5.    Following appointment, appropriate governance will be put in place to support the identification, monitoring and ongoing management of conflicts that may arise. The chair will also be required to declare any interests throughout their tenure. This will maintain the LLB’s integrity, and its credibility when making important decisions. 

Conflicts of interest

4.6.    There are no identified conflicts of interest for officers involved in this decision.
 

5.1.    Director’s approval is sought to spend £110,000, in total, to: 

•    procure an executive search company, McLean Public, to provide recruitment services, and help appoint a working chair for the LLB (up to £20,000) in 2026-27
•    cover subsequent staffing costs once the working chair of the LLB is in post (up to £90,000). 

5.2.    The staffing budget of up to £90,000 will be spread across three financial years (2026-27 to 2028-29). As the appointment is for three years, this will be up to £30,000 per annum pro-rated.

5.3.    This £110,000 spend is proposed to be funded from the Homes for Londoners Collaboration budget (2026-27 to 2028-29) in the Land and Development unit (part of the Housing and Land Directorate). 
 

6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Executive Director, Land and Development (the Director) concern the exercise of the GLA’s general powers; and fall within the GLA’s statutory power to do such things considered to further, or that are facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, the promotion of social development in Greater London. In formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the GLA’s related statutory duties to:

•    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
•    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the UK
•    consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2.    In taking the decisions requested, the Director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the Director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report. 

Procurement

6.3.    This decision seeks approval of spend to procure executive search services from McLean Public. Officers are reminded to comply with the requirements of the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code in the procurement of McLean Public. Officers are also reminded to put in place an appropriate contract for services between the GLA and McLean Public, before the services commence.
 

7.1.    The project will be delivered in accordance with the below table.