Overcrowding in London will be given greater attention, the Deputy Mayor for Housing, James Murray, has confirmed. Following pressure from the London Assembly, including Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Tom Copley AM, Mr Murray conceded that City Hall must take further steps to ensure tackling overcrowding is a priority in the London Plan. The Deputy Mayor also pledged to set out ‘firm policies’ to tackle overcrowding in his final Housing Strategy.
Data published by the Greater London Authority (GLA) in 2017 showed that a third of children in social housing and a quarter of children in private rented housing live in overcrowded conditions. However, little mention is made of the need to tackle overcrowding in the Mayor’s Draft London Plan, currently out to consultation. The evidence base for the Plan – the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) – assumes enough of the right homes are built to eradicate overcrowding. Yet, Tom Copley urged more stringent action, including measuring bed spaces as a way of gauging the Mayor’s performance. In a letter to Mr Copley, the Deputy Mayor for Housing said City Hall could “do more to be clear about the range of steps we are taking to ensure tackling overcrowding is a priority and to reflect suggestions like yours of including a KPI in the London Plan measuring bed spaces.” He also promised ‘firm policies’ to tackle overcrowding in his final Housing Strategy.
In his letter, the Deputy Mayor also said he had taken on board concerns about a statement in the draft London Plan that two-bedroom homes should be ‘taken into account’ when assessing needs for family housing. He admitted the wording was “not satisfactory” and said he would recommend to the Mayor that it be changed.
Labour’s London Assembly Housing Spokesperson, Tom Copley AM, said:
“There has been cross-party concern on the London Assembly about the need to ensure we have policies in place to tackle overcrowding, including ensuring we are building enough family-sized homes. I’m pleased the Mayor has listened and offered a number of changes to his Draft Housing Strategy and Draft London Plan.
“We’ll continue to push for more and better policies to reduce the number of families in London living in appalling overcrowded conditions. I also encourage Londoners to have their say on the Mayor’s proposals during the draft London Plan’s consultation period, which runs until 2nd March 2018.”
Notes to editors
- A copy of the letter from Deputy Mayor for Housing, James Murray, to Tom Copley AM, can be found attached;
- Data published by the Greater London Authority (GLA) in 2017 showed that a third of children in social housing and a quarter of children in private rented housing live in overcrowded conditions. The report can be found here;
- Policy 4.12.3 of the Draft London Plan, found here, states: “Family units have historically been considered to be those consisting of three or more bedrooms. However, as many families do live in two-bedroom units this should be taken into account when assessing the needs that different sized units can meet (in terms of bedrooms) and the design and approach to management of a development both for market and affordable housing”;
- The formal process of amending the draft London Plan requires the Mayor to recommend changes to the Inspector off the back of consultation responses;
- Tom Copley AM is a Londonwide Assembly Member
For more information please contact London Assembly Labour Group senior press officer, Alison Orlandi, on 020 7983 4952. Number not for publication.