FOI - Nationally Described Space Standard [Mar 2023]

Your request 

1. Have you adopted the Nationally Described Space Standard in your local plans or planning guidance? If so, please provide the date it was adopted. If not, do you have any plans to adopt it, and if so, by when are you planning to adopt it?
2. Do you use any alternative space standards in your local plans or planning guidance? Please provide details of the space standard in use, including the origin such as HQI.  
3. If you are using space standards, do you have data on the rate of compliance for new dwellings for up to the last 10 years? I would like you to provide the information for questions 1 and 2 in an email, and question 3 in a spreadsheet, if available

Our response

Yes the Nationally Described Space Standard (NDSS) were adopted as part the Minor Alterations to the London Plan, which was formally published (adopted) in March 2016. Please see this webpage for information about this process: Minor Alterations to the London Plan 2015 | London City Hall

At this point the NDSS became part of the development plan for every local planning authority in London. The NDSS have been carried through into the London Plan 2021 and can be found in Policy D6 in chapter 3, you can view the London Plan 2021 here: the_london_plan_2021.pdf

The space standards in the London Plan 2021 are the same as the NDSS, however the minimum floor to ceiling height is 2.5m instead of 2.3m. For further information about this difference and the space standards in the London Plan please see: mayor_of_london_-_m36_housing_quality_and_standards.pdf

The GLA working in partnership with all of the Planning Authorities across London, launched the Planning London Datahub in 2020, this for the first time enabled the collection and collation of the data on a unit level across London as an open dataset. This data is in the format it is supplied by the applicant applying for permission.

Thus it is now possible for the GLA to monitor and report on this data. Please find attached spreadsheets for 2021 and 2022 and together with the data we have currently for 2023.

The attached data only covers approved applications and is provided by applicants and not quality checked, there may be errors in it. The data is only for the dwellings that applicants have provided this information for and does not cover all dwellings approved in each of these years in London. The data for each unit includes the number of bedrooms but not the number of bed spaces or the number of storeys for the dwelling thus it is not possible to directly compare to the NDSS. However, the data in the spreadsheets includes a check if the unit meets the minimum or maximum space standard for the number of bedrooms it contains to give an indication of compliance with the space standards.