• Reference: 2019/20860
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

The difference between tables 3.19 and 3.20 in the latest London Plan Annual Monitoring report implies that non-major planning applications account for 25.1% of net housing approvals in 2017-18, but only 2.7% of the net affordable housing approvals. What steps can you take to increase the amount of affordable housing delivered as part of smaller developments?

• Reference: 2019/20859
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

Table 3.19 in the latest London Plan Annual Monitoring report shows that 18% of net housing approvals in 2017-18 were for affordable housing. Can you provide this figure for the previous five years, and a provisional figure for the previous year (2018/19) if possible?

• Reference: 2019/20858
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

For each of the last five years, can you provide the number of homes approved as part of non-major planning applications (i.e. those with fewer than 10 units or 1000 square metres of floorspace), broken down into market, social, affordable and intermediate tenures?

• Reference: 2019/20857
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

Earlier this year, the Scottish Parliament passed the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019. It allows a planning authority to designate all or part of its area as a short-term let control area (STLCA). Within these areas, use of a dwelling as a short-term let will be considered a material change of use and require planning permission. Would you support a similar planning designation in London and would you lobby the Government to devolve greater powers to control the proliferation of short-term lets?

• Reference: 2019/20856
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

The Scottish Government recent published “Short-term lets - impact on communities: research”, a very detailed report on the impact of short-term lets on platforms like Airbnb on the housing market in local authorities across Scotland. Would you consider commissioning similar research to be undertaken in London?

• Reference: 2019/20855
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

It has recently been reported that zero “Starter Homes” have been built since the Government announced the programme in 2015, with the GLA responsible for administering funds within London. How much funding was awarded by the GLA as part of the Government’s “Starter Homes” programme? Could you answer: where this funding was awarded; how many Starter Homes it was due to deliver; how many have been started; if it is expected that any of these will be completed; and if the GLA will be able to recover the funding to be used on genuinely affordable homes instead?

• Reference: 2019/20854
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

Can you provide a table or spreadsheet breaking down shared ownership sales in each of the last five financial years by: London borough, median market value per dwelling, median initial equity stake purchased (both as a percentage and monetary value), median mortgage size and median cash deposit size?

• Reference: 2019/20853
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

Table 3.12 in the latest London Plan Annual Monitoring report shows “Net conventional affordable housing completions by tenure 2015/16 to 2017/18”. Can you confirm that while “net”, this includes demolitions but not sales? Could you therefore confirm that while table 3.12 shows 3,693 net new social homes built in London in those three years, MHCLG Live Table 685 finds that 8,892 council homes have been sold through Right to Buy in the same period, and therefore London has experienced a loss of 5,199 social rented homes?

• Reference: 2019/20852
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

The latest London Plan Annual Monitoring Report for 2017-18 shows that many London Boroughs fell short of their London Plan Annual Housing Targets in part because the number of homes becoming “long term vacant” had significantly increased. Overall in London, 2,244 more homes were “long term vacant” than in the previous year. What is your assessment of this situation, and do you think the powers that boroughs have are strong enough to bring these back into use?

• Reference: 2019/20851
• Question by: Tom Copley
• Meeting date: 19 December 2019

Could you tell me: how many projects have been funded to date by the small sites small builders programme; the amount of funding awarded to each project; the location, number of new homes and tenure breakdown of each project; whether each project is planned, started or completed; and how much funding for the programme remains unspent?