Where are we with the
London Plan?
LSE London Seminar
22 February 2010
The London Plan
•Mayor’s spatial
development strategy
•Overall strategic plan for
London
•Geographic/locational
aspects of Mayoral strategies
•Londonwide context for
borough plans
•Policy framework for
Mayoral planing decisions
Review of the London Plan
•First published 2004; two sets of alterations;
consolidated version Feb 2008
•“Planning for a Better London” – setting out Mayoral
direction on planning – published for comment July 2008
•Mayor announced complete review of the Plan
December 2008
•Initial proposals issued in April 2009
•Draft new Plan issued for consultation 12 October 09
•Consultation closed 12 January 2010
The London Plan Review: Next
Steps
•Now ploughing through 960 responses
•Next step: Examination in Public
•Pre-enquiry meeting 30 March
•EiP opens 28 June (to 16 July
•EiP resumes 6 September (to ???)
•Then we wait for the Panel’s report….
The London Plan: The Endgame
•Mayor decides whether to accept Panel
recommendations
•Gives notice of intention to publish to the
Secretary of State
•SoS decides whether to direct changes
•Formal publication (end 2011)
The London Plan: Where are
we?
•Quick answer: about halfway through
•In WW2 terms, invasion of Italy
“I am under no delusion as to the stern fight
that lies ahead” - Montgomery
•Wider question: where are we in the wider
context?
Background: London is
different
•Formally a region in its own right; but
functionally part of a wider city-region
•A different governance structure:
•The Greater London Authority:
•Elected, executive Mayor
•London Assembly
•RDA a GLA “functional body”
•RSS a Mayoral strategy (“The London Plan”)
•A different legal basis:
•GLA Acts 1999/2007
•Regulations
•GOL Circular 1/2008
Background: Challenges
• A growing – and changing – population
• More households
• A growing – and changing- economy
• Persistent poverty and disadvantage
• A changing climate
• Ensuring the infrastructure London needs
• Securing the legacy of 2012
• A new focus on quality of life
• A changing planning system
Basic trends: demographic
structure
Basic trends: employment
structure
Statistically, these challenges
could mean that:
to 2031:
Possible need for:
• population grows by 1.3 mll
• 40,000 more hotel rooms,
• households increase by 0.8 mll,
• 1.3 – 2.2 mll sq m of
and
comparison goods floorspace,
• employment by 0.7 mll,
• 2.25 sq m of office space in
• with household expenditure
central London alone, and
almost doubling to £160 bll.
• 33,000 more homes p.a. across
London
And perhaps:
• 4 million more trips per day by
2023,
and
• a 15% increase in CO2 output if
we do nothing to address it.
The new Plan
•Shorter and more strategic
•More flexibility at local level
•Eg parking policy
•More on quality of life
•More on places where people live
•More on Outer London
•More on Inner London
•More on economic diversity
The new Plan (2)
•Less prescriptive:
•Set clear objectives
•More flexible about means
•Fewer targets
The new London Plan
• It will be:
•Shorter and more strategic
•More user-friendly; arranged in more topic-based
chapters
•It will start with a stronger spatial vision
•Chapters on:
•People (eg housing, social infrastructure)
•Economy
•Transport
•Quality of life (eg built/green environment)
•Environment/climate change
•Implementation, monitoring and review
Continuity with previous Plan
•Challenges haven’t changed greatly:
•Addressing population and employment
growth
•Maintaining London’s world city status
•Supporting a dynamic economy
•Providing homes for Londoners
•Transport
•Climate change
Same old same old..
•Still seeking to resolve the strategic/local
dynamic (an issue since Salisbury in 1899)
•Still seeking to contain London’s physical growth
(an issue since Morrison in 1934)
•Still addressing tensions between London and
rest of the UK (an issue since Barlow in 1937)
•Still addressing problems of development and
infrastructure (an issue since Uthwatt in 1942)
•Still addressing London’s resistance to big plans
and easy answers (an issue since Wren in 1666)
Late Victorian London
Great War London
Peak population London
The EiP
•Main test is soundness:
•Clearly spatial?
•Consistent with legislation?
•Consistent with other Mayoral strategies?
•Internally consistent?
•Based on credible & robust evidence?
•Realistic and capable of implementation?
•It will be:
•Long
•Expensive (in both time and money)
•Hugely dependant on what happens on 6/5
Key battlegrounds: Strategy
•Are the growth projections right
•Is growth desirable
•Is growth sustainable
•Is growth affordable
•Will population and economic growth match
•Alternatives?
Key Battlegrounds: Housing
•Housing need and supply
•Affordable housing
•Housing design
•Gypsies and travellers
•Social infrastructure
•Places of worship
Key battlegrounds: Transport
•Airports
•Roads
•Parking policy
Key battlegrounds: Living
spaces
•Conservation/design v development
•Tall buildings
•The River
And afterwards?
•Implementation Report
•Supplementary guidance
•Housing
•Town Centres/suburbs
•CAZ
•Industrial Land
•Sustainable Design and Construction/Energy
•Accessible/inclusive environments
•Trees/woodland
Afterwards (2)
•Alterations:
•Anything arising from EiP
•Health and planning?
•Any new government requirements
•Mayoral manifesto commitments
•Housing figures update
Afterwards (3): Infrastructure
funding
•Community Infrastructure Levy?
•Regulations to be in place for April 2010
•Something else?
•Tory frontbench stance unclear, but likely to have
something
•Part of the Crossrail funding package
•Likely to have major implications:
•Viability evidence base
•Public consultation
•Public examination
Afterwards (4)
•New inter-regional planning machinery?
•Back to SERPLAN?
•LP as Part 1 of borough LDFs?
•Strategic planning on a SE England basis?
•New Mayor, New Plan?
Questions?