Hayes (Kent) Community

The Mayor of London has been urged to work with the government to ensure that London’s Green Belt is not put at risk to meet the new housing targets.

A London Assembly motion expresses concerns that the target of 87,992 new homes per year in the capital may not be achievable on brownfield sites alone, and notes that the Greater London Authority has said that Green Belt land release “appears unavoidable given the changes to national policy”.

The motion also notes that the Government’s top-down targets do not take into account the type of housing Londoners need, especially family-sized homes in many areas, focusing instead on overall unit numbers.

The Assembly has therefore called on Sir Sadiq Khan to lobby the Government to:

• Ensure that London’s housing targets are deliverable on brownfield land
• Replace blanket unit-based targets for each area with housing-type targets, such as habitable room targets
• Bring forward measures to incentivise and remove obstacles from schemes with planning permission being built out on time.

Thomas Turrell AM, who proposed the motion, said:

“London’s lungs, our greenbelt, is at risk from the implications of the NPPF, despite us having a wealth of brownfield sites in the city to utilise to meet housing targets.

“There are also concerns about meeting the need for family housing in our city, rather than just dozens of high-rise flats.

“The Assembly has backed this motion, now calling on the Mayor to lobby for an amended NPPF to reflect these concerns, which we share, including social, accessible and affordable housing schemes.”