Planning for a better London

The Government has said London needs 88,000 new homes a year over the next decade to meet demand.  That’s far more than we have ever built before.  To ensure every Londoner can afford somewhere they can call home, the Mayor’s Planning team will need to explore all options.

Growing London’s economy is the Mayor’s other top priority in the London Plan. It’s essential to creating good jobs, putting more money in people’s pockets, funding our public services and helping London’s communities through the cost-of-living crisis.

Around 2,000 of you took part either in our survey and/or our discussions which focused on housing and the economy.

Three quarters of you told us that you’re unhappy with London’s current housing situation. You shared a range of views, with 55% telling us that developers should help fund affordable homes as a top priority. To increase housing availability, there was support for regulating overseas ownership, relaxing planning rules to speed development and building on brownfield sites.

However, some were concerned about overcrowding and extra pressure on local services.  

You also shared that the things you most value in London’s town centres and high streets are cafes, restaurants and pubs (75%). Market squares and traffic free spaces followed closely behind (73%), with cultural (69%) and community services (68%) important too. 

We heard from a wide range of Londoners with all ages represented between 16 to 90+. 

More men took part (53%) compared to women (45%) and those who identify as other (2%). 

There was an almost even mix of those of you who live in inner London boroughs (50%) and outer London boroughs (48%). Some 2% of you lived outside of London. 

Thanks for your response. Our teams are now analysing your feedback, alongside the views from stakeholders, community groups and other Londoners who took part in the consultation.

Everything you told us on housing, jobs, transport and green spaces in our planning discussions back in 2022 and 2023 will be considered too.

Together all these ideas will help inform the final draft of the London Plan.    

We’ll keep you posted on the next opportunity to get involved again.